
Class _4 2JL2=- 

Book ■ /■ ? ^ 7 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT 



The First Explorations of the 

Trans- Allegheny Region 

by the Virginians 

1650-1674 



By 
Clarence Walworth Alvord 

and 

Lee Bidgood 



\. 




The Arthur H. Clark Company 
Cleveland : 1 9 1 2 



COPYRIGHT, 191 2, BY 

CLARENCE WALWORTH ALVORD 

/9 -/Sl^l 



€C!.A;n'.>2i2 



Contents 

Preface . . . . . . .13 

The Discovery of the Ohio Waters . . .15 

I Encouragement from the Assembly . . 99 

Act of the Assembly, March, 1642/3 
Order of the Assembly, November, 1652 
Order of the Assembly, July, 1653 
Order of the Assembly [1658?] 
Order of the Assembly, March, 1659/60 

II The Discovery of New Brittaine . . . 105 

III The Discoveries of John Lederer . . . 131 

IV Governor Berkeley as a promoter of explora- 

tion . . . . . .173 

Letter of Sir William Berkeley to Lord Arlington, 

May 27, 1669 
Letter of Thomas Ludwell to Lord Arlington, June 

27, 1670 
Letter of Sir William Berkeley to the Committee 

for Trade and Plantations, January 22, 167 1/2 

V The expedition of Batts and Fallam . . 181 

John Clayton's transcript of the Journal of Robert 

Fallam 
Extract from a letter of John Clayton to the Royal 

Society 
Remarks on the Journal of Batts and Fallam 

VI The journeys of Needham and Arthur . . 207 

Memorandum by John Locke 

Letter of Abraham Wood to John Richards, August 
22, 1674 

VII Coxe's account of the activities of the English 

IN THE Mississippi Valley in the seventeenth 
century ...... 229 

Bibliography . . . . . .251 

Index ....... 259 



Illustrations 

Map showing the explorations of Lederer, 1670; 
Batts and Fallam, 167 1, • Needham and Arthur, 
1673; Arthur, 1673-1674 . . . Frontispiece 

Map showing the explorations of Bland and Wood, 

1650; Lederer, 1669, 1670 . . facing page 64 

Facsimile of the original title-page of the Discov- 
ery OF New Brittaine . . . .107 

Facsimile of the original title-page of the Discov- 
eries OF John Lederer . , . -133 

Facsimile of John Lederer's map . . . 139 

Facsimile of the signature of Abraham Wood . 227 



Preface 

After the brilliant researches of Francis Parkman 
and Justin Winsor, it is remarkable that a new chap- 
ter in the history of the explorations of North 
America has remained so long unwritten; yet the 
story of the discovery of the Trans-Allegheny region 
by the Virginians is here first told in its entirety. Since 
the success of these early enterprises has been doubted 
and frequently denied by our best historians, the at- 
tempt to piece together the story from the scattered 
sources and to determine its truth needs no excuse. 
For the same reason, it is desirable that all the sources, 
whether previously printed or not, be published in 
order that others may test for themselves the conclu- 
sions. If the memory of these hardy English explor- 
ers be revived and given a place by the side of their 
better known but not more daring French contem- 
poraries, Mr. Bidgood and myself will feel rewarded 
for our pains. As I read again the manuscript before 
sending it to the press, I cannot but feel that a great 
injustice has been done these Virginians by history. 
Although the pen of a Francis Parkman could hardly 
raise them to the rank of Joliet, Marquette, and La 
Salle, for these latter opened to the knowledge of 
mankind a continent, still the names of Wood, Batts, 
Fallam, and Needham should surely be as well known 
as those of the many lesser lights that surrounded 
these greater French explorers. 



14 Preface 

At the request of the publishers, the following ex- 
pansion of abbreviations has been adopted in the re- 
printing of the manuscript originals: Majestic; 
Lordship, and, which, with; and occasionally others 
have been expanded. In the case of the letter "u" 
used for "v" and of "yt" for "that," the usual practice 
of making the alterations has been followed. "Ye" 
used for "the" has been retained in some documents. 

For assistance in the preparation of this volume our 
thanks are due first to Miss Agnes Laut who kindly 
loaned us her manuscript and notes. We wish to 
make acknowledgments to Dr. J. Franklin Jameson, 
Dr. Solon J. Buck, Mr. James Mooney, Mr. Earl G. 
Swem, and Professor Frederick J. Turner for valu- 
able assistance and suggestions; and also to Miss 
Margaret L. Kingsbury for cooperation on the bib- 
liography. Clarence W. Alvord. 
University of Illinois. 



The Discovery of the Ohio Waters 



The Discovery of the Ohio Waters 

The Indies are discovered and vast treasures brought from 
thence ever}^ day. Let us, therefore, bend our endeavors 
thithenvards, and if the Spaniards or Portuguese suffer us 
not to join with them, there w^ill be yet region enough for 
all to enjoy. - Lord Herbert. 

On the fourteenth of June, in the year 1671, there 
was gathered on a hill overlooking the rapids at that 
picturesque centre of the Great Lake system of North 
America, Sault Ste. Marie, a crowd of Indians, in- 
habitants of the shores of these inland seas. To this 
spot there had come in canoes representatives of the 
Potawatomi, the Sauk, the Winnebago, the Cree, the 
Ottawa and their neighbors, to the number of four- 
teen tribes to listen to the message of their "great 
father" from across the water. This message had been 
brought to them by Daumont de Saint-Lusson, who, 
arrayed in all the gorgeous coloring of silk and vel- 
vet, such as might be seen in the court of Louis XIV, 
was the centre of a little group of Frenchmen, dressed 
like himself in colors to impress the savage mind or 
else in the raiment of the Jesuit fathers, no less im- 
pressive if more somber. With the accompaniment 
of religious ceremony and amidst the silence of men 
and nature, a huge cross of wood was reared and 
planted in the ground. The Frenchmen, with heads 
bared to the breeze, sang the Vexilla Regis. Beside 
the cross was then raised a cedar post carrying a metal 



1 8 Trans- Allegheny Region 

plate engraven with the royal arms, and the Euro- 
peans broke out again in the chant of the Exaudiat. 
After this, one of the Jesuits lifted up his voice in 
prayer to Heaven that God might bless this enterprise 
of the "most Christian monarch." 

Advancing with drawn sword in one hand and in 
the other a clod of earth, Saint-Lusson read in a loud 
voice the following proclamation to the nations of the 
world: 

In the name of the Most High, Mighty, and Redoubted 
Monarch, Louis, Fourteenth of that name, Most Christian 
King of France and of Navarre, I take possession of this 
place, Sainte Marie du Saut, as also of Lakes Huron and 
Superior, the Island of Manitoulin, and all countries, rivers, 
lakes, and streams contiguous and adjacent there unto, both 
those which have been discovered and those w^hich may be 
discovered hereafter, in all their length and breadth, bounded 
on the one side by the seas of the North and of the West, 
and on the other by the South Sea: declaring to the nations 
thereof that from this time forth they are vassals of his 
Majesty, bound to obey his laws and follow his customs; 
promising them on his part all succor and protection against 
the incursions and invasions of their enemies; declaring to 
all potentates, princes, sovereigns, states, and republics, to 
them and to their subjects, that they cannot and are not to 
seize or settle upon any parts of the aforesaid countries, save 
only under the good pleasure of His Most Christian Majesty, 
and of him who will govern in his behalf ; and this on pain 
of incurring his resentment and the efforts of his arms. 
Vive Le Roi} 

With such impressive ceremonies and presumptu- 
ous language was inaugurated the period of active 
discovery and occupation of the great American in- 
land valley by the French. 

1 Parkman, Francis. La Salle and the discovery of the Great fVest, 51. 



The Discovery of the Ohio Waters 19 

Three months after Daumont de Saint-Lusson pro- 
claimed the dominion of the grand monarque over 
land, lakes, and rivers of the West, three Englishmen 
of the colony of Virginia crossed the Appalachian di- 
vide and pitched camp by the side of a stream whose 
waters, after joining the Ohio flowed to the Missis- 
sippi River and the Gulf of Mexico. Footsore and 
weary after the hard journey over the mountains 
where they had experienced the perils of cold and 
hunger, with their homely clothing torn to shreds by 
the brambles, there was no possibility of equaling the 
grand ceremony which, a few weeks before, had been 
performed far to the north on the banks of the lakes, 
nor has such display been characteristic of the Eng- 
lish advance westv^^ard. In the simplicity of their ac- 
tions these first British Americans in the western val- 
ley foreshadowed the great migrations of the future. 
First of all, as good and loyal subjects, they cried out: 
"Long live Charles the Second, by the grace of God 
King of England, Scotland, France, Ireland and 
Virginia and of all the Territories thereunto belong- 
ing." They then proceeded to set their marks upon 
their discovery: four trees were barked; on one was 
branded the royal insignia; on two others the initials 
of Governor Berkeley and of the man who had sent 
them forth, Abraham Wood; and on the fourth, those 
of the two leaders of the party, Thomas Batts and 
Robert Fallam.^ 

Thus almost at the same moment, the two great 
rivals, France and England, set up their claims to the 
immense interior valley. The struggle for its mastery, 
perhaps the most portentous in the annals of history, 

- See pages 191-192. 



20 Trans-Allegheny Region 

which was to last almost a century, was inaugurated. 
The subject of this volume is the history of the first 
act played by men of English speech in this century 
long drama. It is one of the ironies of history that an 
event which redounds so much to the credit of Eng- 
lishmen, and substantiates so completely the claims of 
the mother country to that particular territory for 
which she made war on her rival at such a cost of 
blood and money, is practically unknown and has 
even been frequently denied by historians. The names 
of Frontenac, Joliet, Marquette, and La Salle are fa- 
miliar to every school-boy, while those of their Eng- 
lish competitors in exploration, who were in every 
respect their equals in daring and enterprise, have re- 
mained till this day in obscurity, almost in oblivion. 

The brilliant pen of Francis Parkman, which has 
made the name of La Salle a household word, wher- 
ever is found the love of adventure and of history, 
wrote : 

It has been affirmed that one Colonel Wood, of Virginia, 
reached a branch of the Mississippi as early as the year 1654, 
and that about 1670 a certain Captain Bolton penetrated to 
the river itself. Neither statement is sustained by sufficient 
evidence.' 

What the most brilliant and at the same time most 
careful historian of America wrote has been followed 
without investigation by his successors. Justin Win- 
sor, after investigating the sources, arrived at the 
same conclusion. In one of his well-known volumes 
on western history, he wrote: 

There is much less certainty that at about the same time, 
as is claimed, some Englishmen pushed west from the head- 

3 Parkman, Francis. La Salle, 5. 



The Discovery of the Ohio Waters 21 

waters of the James River in Virginia, and passed the moun- 
tains. The stor}^ is told in Coxe's Carolana as coming from 
a memorial presented to the English monarch in 1699, and 
the exploit is ascribed to a Colonel Abraham Wood, who 
had been ordered to open trade with the western Indians, 
which he did in several successive journeys. No satisfactory 
confirmation of the tale has ever been produced.* 

Within these pages are printed the sources of in- 
formation concerning the western explorations of the 
Virginians and they leave no doubt about the event. 
Unquestionably, Englishmen were among the first to 
see the waters that flow westward and southward. 
They camped by the side of a branch of the Ohio two 
years before Joliet and Marquette made their famous 
expedition which disclosed the great Mississippi to 
the world. They knew the region of the upper Ohio 
years before the French had any record of the river's 
course.^ If priority of discovery is the proof of do- 
minion, then the territory in dispute between France 
and England, that caused the French and Indian 
War, belonged by right to the latter, as she claimed; 
and contemporary pamphleteers, like Dr. John 
Mitchell were absolutely correct in the mustering of 
their proof, although they were misled concerning 
some of the facts and the actual date of the events.® 

Before recounting the story of these hardy Virgin- 
ians, who first crossed the great divide, it is necessary 
to remind ourselves of the environment of which they 
were a product, for their actions were not isolated 

*Winsor, Justin. Cartier to Frontenac, 183. See also his Mississippi 
Basin, 452, for a similar statement. 

■'' See pages 24-25 for the so-called La Salle discover^'. 

^ The Contest in America between Great Britain and France (London, 
1757), 176. 



22 Trans- Allegheny Region 

phenomena, nor were their discoveries wholly dis- 
associated with the event in the far north, an account 
of which opens this introduction. 

Historians have generally interpreted the seven- 
teenth century as one of the pivotal eras in the world's 
history. It saw the end of the religious wars, the 
organization of the modern state, and the rise of new 
world powers. No less than in the world of politics, 
the century was the turning point from the old to the 
new in the world of business. The former supremacy 
of the city merchant-barons in Italy and Germany 
had passed away. With the opening of new and 
broader fields of enterprise in Asia and America, busi- 
ness had become nationalized; and finally by the 
seventeenth century there were developed the great 
stock companies for trading and colonizing. This 
change brought with it tremendous business expan- 
sion. Enterprises were started that foreshadowed the 
Mississippi plans of John Law and the South Sea 
Bubble. The European population was educated in 
get- rich-quick schemes of every variety; and rapidly 
the market for the sale of shares in such undertakings 
was developed. Men were looking everywhere for 
rapid financial returns. In the history of business as 
of politics, the close of the century marks the begin- 
ning of the present day world. 

This desire for quick profits was the most powerful 
motive of discovery in the new world. It was the 
hope of gain that lured men to undertake the long, 
wearisome, and dangerous voyage across the Atlantic 
and incited explorer, warrior, and trader to plunge 
into the interior through the unknown dangers of the 



The Discovery of the Ohio Waters 23 



almost impenetrable forests. The hope of profits 
moved the statesmen at home to urge these adventur- 
ers to renewed efforts and to play their own cards 
craftily in the diplomatic game. The great nations of 
Europe were all seeking to acquire dominion in 
America that they might share in the treasures of the 
"Indies." Spain had been first, then came Portugal; 
and after a hundred years, the two great rivals, 
France and England, reached out for North Amer- 
ica. Their stake in the game of profits was the great 
interior valley, long before discovered by Spanish ad- 
venturers, but never exploited and so almost forgot- 
ten. 

In both countries associations of moneyed men 
were formed for the exploitation of this world that 
was being opened up. Their first thought had been 
to rival Spain in the finding of the precious metals, 
and Portugal in the discovery of a new route to Asia. 
When these twin expectations seemed less attainable, 
they laid their plans for the development of the fur- 
trade, which in the course of time became an effective 
force in the discovery and colonization of America. 
In this enterprise, France had an advantage from her 
position on the St. Lawrence River with its direct 
water communication into the interior; and soon 
French traders and priests were roaming over the 
Great Lakes, where they heard of the "great water" 
beyond. Before the first Virginians reached the head- 
waters of the Ohio, it is probable that more than one 
wandering Frenchman had crossed the narrow divide 
that separates the Lakes from the Mississippi system, 
but there is only one recorded instance that is not open 



24 Trans- Allegheny Region 

to dispute." At the time when the first successful 
English exploration was being executed, the French 
were making plans for the expedition of Joliet and 
Marquette which has brought them so much renown. 
The success of the fur traders of Quebec and Mon- 
treal who, with their supporters in France, had se- 
cured the monopoly of the rich territory around the 
interior lakes, acted only as a spur to the ambition of 
other Frenchmen, who sought eagerly for similar 
fields. In La Salle, these rivals of the Jesuits and 
their trading friends found a worthy leader. The 
southern shore of the lakes ofifered a promising oppor- 
tunity. La Salle's exploratory expedition into this 
region, in 1668, was a failure on account of ill health, 
for he did not reach the Ohio as was claimed for him 
later by his friends.^ From his talks with the Sene- 
cas, however, he was persuaded of the possibility of 
his plans and soon found many supporters in France 
who were ready to advance money in the enterprise. 

^ We shall not enter into the discussion of who first reached the branches 
of the Mississippi. Historians seem inclined to deny that Jean Nicollet 
visited the Wisconsin in 1734. The question of the two French traders 
of 1754 and of the wanderings of Grosseilliers and Radisson is very com- 
plex. There seems to be no doubt about Father Allouez's visit to the 
Wisconsin River in 1670. If he was the first white man to cross the divide, 
the French discovery preceded the English by a little over a year. Shea, 
John G. Discovery and Exploration of the Mississippi Valley, xx-xxv; for 
bibliography of discussion of Jean Nicollet's expedition, see IFisconsin His- 
torical Collections, vol. xi, i, footnote i. 

8 Although many have suspected the accounts of La Salle's discovery 
of the Ohio, the majority of historians have accepted it upon very slender 
evidence. Mr. Frank E. Melvin of the University of Illinois has finally 
proved, in our opinion, by the use of new evidence, its falsity. His essay 
on this subject will soon be published. The latest writer concerning this 
region, Mr. Hanna, in his Wilderness Trail, vol. ii, 87 et seq is 
also prepared to reject the tale as a fabrication, and writes that it is "only 
a question of time when that evidence will be declared to be wholly false." 



The Discovery of the Ohio Waters 25 

It was La Salle's fortune to open up the Illinois and 
Mississippi region and there to organize the fur- 
trade; but his activities fall after the period narrated 
in this volume, and therefore belong to a later period 
of the rivalry between his country and England. 

The contrast offered by the rapid western advance 
of the French with the slower movement of the Eng- 
lish is one of the commonplaces of American history. 
The founder of Quebec saw the Great Lakes; and 
before his death, one of his followers, Jean Nicollet, 
had reached the western shore of Lake Michigan. 
La Salle, a gentleman of France, who became famil- 
iar with court life, plunged into the wilderness short- 
ly after his arrival in Canada, and fifteen years later 
had reached the Illinois River. The rapidity and 
boldness of this westward advance arouses the imagi- 
nation. In the actions of its leaders there is typified 
the eternal conflict of man with nature. The French- 
man alone in the wilderness, a thousand miles from 
his connections, is a Prometheus confident in his 
strength hurling defiance at Zeus. Undoubtedly this 
is one of the reasons why the heroes of French explo- 
ration are so well known; their exploits have all the 
elements that appeal to the romantic aspirations of 
our nature. 

The English advance, on the other hand, has been 
slower and more secure. They have not reached out 
into the unknown, until the settlements at their back 
have offered them a safe base for their operations; 
and in all periods of our history, the men of adventure 
have generally been reared in a society particularly 
well fitted to train them for the life of exploration. 
These conditions have been found on what is known 



26 Trans- Allegheny Region 

as the frontier, that line betv\^een civilization and 
savagery, ever slowly, irresistibly, and inexorably 
advancing westward.^ The Englishmen, who were to 
become the rivals of the French explorers, were mem- 
bers of the first real American frontier; and, there- 
fore, a few words of explanation of this unique so- 
ciety is necessary for a complete understanding of 
their careers. 

From 1607 to 1645 the English frontier was the 
American shore line, and the newcomer in stepping 
from his ship to terra firma abandoned security and 
civilization for the dangers and barbarisms of the 
border land and entered upon the work of adjusting 
himself to the new environment. All Virginia was 
in 1644 still exposed to the Indian menace, and a 
large proportion of its settlers actually perished in the 
rising of that year. Nothing more than a pioneer 
life, economic and social, existed in any or all the 
groups of settlements that constituted the colony. The 
next year, as a direct result of Opechancanough's 
massacre, forts were established along the first inland 
frontier, the fall line of the rivers. These were 
destined to be successfully maintained and strength- 
ened from time to time; and no serious Indian raid 
broke through this line of defense. Henceforth sav- 
age warfare was transferred from the tidewater terri- 
tory to the country between the falls and the moun- 
tains. 

To this region there gradually drifted the char- 
acteristically pioneer and border elements of the 

9 See Turner's brilliant essay, "The Significance of the Frontier in 
American History," in American Historical Association, Report, 1893, P- 
199. 



The Discovery of the Ohio Waters 27 

population; and in the next generation, there was 
evolved the first truly American backwoods society 
with all its familiar activities: Indian trade, explora- 
tion, hunting, trapping; raising of hogs, cattle, and 
horses, which were branded and ran loose on the wild 
lands; pioneer farming, capitalistic engrossment, and 
exploitation of the wilderness. The American fron- 
tiersman, a new type in history, was developed before 
1700. He was not inferior in any respect save num- 
bers to his descendants of the eighteenth and nine- 
teenth centuries. 

The military posts at the falls of the James, the 
Appomattox, the Pamunkey, and later, the Rappa- 
hannock, the Blackwater, and the Nansemond, at once 
became, and for a century remained, the foci of this 
new society, the points of departure of western ad- 
venture and exploitation, centers of trade and traffic 
with settlers and savages far and near. They were 
the Leavenworths and Laramies of our first inland 
frontier; and in the course of time cities have de- 
veloped on some of these sites, as has so frequently 
been the case during the American westward march. 
In the protected region between the fall line and the 
ocean, economic and social development proceeded 
rapidly; and, though frontier conditions lingered for 
many years between the rivers and about the edges of 
the great swamps, pioneer life had in the main been 
transferred before the end of the century to the sec- 
ond frontier belt, pushed out by a new and distinct 
civilization, the famous society of tidewater Virginia, 
with which, however, we are not here concerned, ex- 
cept to remember that the pioneer community was 
never completely separated from the better populated 



28 Trans-Allegheny Region 

settlement of the coast, whose relation to it was that 
of a parent. 

The period of exploration actually began with the 
first settlement. Tidewater Virginia is everywhere 
easy of access by ships and boats, and was promptly 
mapped by John Smith and his companions. The 
earliest settlers, also, soon obtained from the Indians 
some vague notions of the principal features of the 
interior, such as the Appalachian mountains." Smith 
and Newport in the spring of 1607 ^^^ again in the 
autumn of 1608 passed beyond the falls of the James, 
and on the second trip reached the Monacan [Mana- 
kin] town, some thirty miles above the falls." Other 
adventurers may in very early times have made their 
way some little distance above the head of tide on the 
rivers. 

The first serious project to explore and exploit the 
country beyond the reach of navigation seems to have 
been formed in 1641. In June of that year, four 
prominent men of the colony petitioned the Assembly 
for "leave and encouragement" to undertake dis- 
coveries to the southwest of Appomattox River. The 
legislators complied in March, 1643, with a law 
which assured the adventurers any and all profits 
which they could make out of their undertaking, for 
a term of fourteen years, reserving only the royal fifth 
from any mines that might be discovered.^" It does 

^0 "Mountaynes Apalatsi:" Capt. Newport's Discoveries, 1607 Public 
Record Office, London; also American Antiquarian Society, Transactions, 
vol. iv, 40, 46-48; and Brown, A. First Republic in America, 34. 

11 American Antiquarian Society, Transactions, vol. iv, 40 et seg.; Smith, 
John. Generall historie of Virginia, vol. i, 195-197. 

^2 See pages 101-102; also footnote 114 for discussion of the date of the 
law in question. 



The Discovery of the Ohio Waters 29 

not appear that the projectors carried out their en- 
terprise, for prior to 1652, when the next similar 
grant was made, their concession had been annulled.'^ 
None of them reappear in the subsequent history of 
western exploration. 

The importance of the act of 1643 lies in the fact 
that it served later as a precedent, often specifically 
cited, for similar legislation applying to the southern 
as well as to the western frontier.'* The usual dura- 
tion of the grant was, as in the first instance, fourteen 
years, and the monopoly of trade was always abso- 
lute for that time; but in 1652 the important qualifi- 
cation was made, and subsequently followed, that of 
the lands discovered the favored parties should have 
first choice, but that later comers were not to be ex- 
cluded from patenting the remainder.'^ 

Perhaps the Indian outbreak of 1644 had inter- 
fered with the plans of these first adventurers. That 
disaster, on the other hand, prepared the way for new 
operations, for its suppression was followed, in Feb- 
ruary, 1645, by an act establishing forts at the falls of 
the James, at Pamunkey, and on the ridge of Chicka- 
hominy, all north of the James.'** 

In March of the year following the Assembly pro- 
vided for a fourth post, at the falls of the Appomat- 
tox, to protect southside Virginia and from which 
expeditions might be led against the Indians. "Fort 

13 See page 102. 

1* See pages 102, 104, 112; Hening, W. W. Statutes at Large, vol. i, 380- 
381, vol. iii, 468; Calendar of State Papers, Colonial, America and JVest 
Indies, 1699, no. 399. 

1^ See pages 102, 104. 

16 Hening, W. W. Statutes at Large, vol. i, 293-294. 



30 Trans-Allegheny Region 

Henry," as it was called, had a garrison of forty-five 
men." Its commander. Captain Abraham Wood, was 
to play an important part in the subsequent explora- 
tions. 

Regular military establishments are always too ex- 
pensive for rude and thinly settled communities to 
maintain. The salaries of the four commanders - 
each receiving six thousand pounds of tobacco annu- 
ally -were probably the heaviest expenditure, but 
constituted in themselves a grave tax on the commun- 
ity. We find the Burgesses ingenuously reasoning in 
the preamble of an act of the October session of that 
very year (1646) that the forts are very necessary, but 
if maintained at public cost, a great burden; hence it 
will be best to have them kept up by individual 
"undertakers," who will in compensation receive land 
and privileges. Acting on this principle, the posts 
were transferred to persons named in the act, with 
suitable arrangements in each case. Fort Henry 
passed to Abraham Wood. That portion of the act 
which provided for the transfer to him is worth read- 
ing, for it is not only representative of the remaining 
cessions, but it also clearly illustrates the dependence 
of institutions on conditions and the revival of dis- 
carded systems, such as feudalism, whenever in new 
times and places the conditions from which they first 
sprang are reproduced. 

Be it therefore enacted that Capt. Abraham Wood whose 
service hath been employed at Forte Henery, be the under- 
taker for the said Forte, unto whome is granted sixe hundred 
acres of land for him and his heires for ever ; with all houses 
and edifices belonging to the said Forte, with all boats and 
1" Hening, VV. W. Statutes at Large, vol. i, 315. 



The Discovery of the Ohio Waters 31 

amunition att present belonging to the said Forte, Provided 
that he the said Capt. Wood do maintayne and keepe ten 
men constantly upon the said place for the terme of three 
yeares, duringe which time he, the said Capt. Wood, is ex- 
empted from all publique taxes for himself and the said tenn 
persons.^^ 

This fortified post remained the property and the 
home of Abraham Wood for at least thirty years; 
and there, doubtless, he died, leaving it as an inherit- 
ance to his children. He himself always called it 
"Fort Henry," but the station or the settlement that 
grew up about it was long known as Wood.'^ Only 
when the town was incorporated, in 1748, does the 
name "Petersburg" seem to have become attached 
to it."*' Under Wood and his successors, this 
establishment was the most important and interesting 
of the stations that dotted the fall line in Virginia. 
On the other important rivers were similar posts, 
centers like it of all the varied activity of the frontier. 
That one which grew into the city of Richmond is 
particularly well known through the activities and 
writings of the Byrds. Cadwallader Jones, at the 
head of tide on the Rappahannock, in 1682, had a con- 
siderable trade with the Indians four hundred miles 
to the south-southwest, and wrote to the Proprietor of 
Maryland for permission to secure in that province 
shell money for carrying it on." The military his- 

is Hening, W. W. Statutes at Large, vol. i, 326. 

1^ Augustine Herman's Map of Virginia and Maryland (London, 1670), 
in Virginia and Maryland Boundary Report (1873) ; A Neiv Map of Vir- 
ginia, Mary-land, and the improved parts of Pennsylvania, and Neiv Jar- 
sey (1719)- 

20 Hening, W. W. Statutes at Large, vol. vi, 211. 

21 Public Record Office, Colonial Papers, vol. xlviii, no. 22, Cadwallader 
Jones to Lord Baltimore, February 6, 1681/2. 



32 Trans-Allegheny Region 

tory of all the posts can be followed in the laws and 
the state papers of the colony; but Fort Henry is en- 
tirely typical of all, and we know more about it than 
about any of the others. From it went out the Occo- 
neechee or Trading Path southward to the Catawbas 
and beyond, and also the trail leading westward to 
the headwaters of the Roanoke and over the moun- 
tains to the New River - the two great roads of early 
trade and settlement, both of them first explored by 
Abraham Wood and his associates. 

Fort Henry in Wood's time was a place like Au- 
gusta, Georgia, in the middle of the eighteenth cen- 
tury or Chicago in the early nineteenth, or any one of 
a dozen others that come to mind as examples of the 
western frontier town and military and trading center. 
In it were conducted all the familiar activities of 
similar settlements of a later period, and with proper 
geographic changes we may without serious error 
project back upon it our clearer picture of the life of 
the far western posts whose romantic and picturesque 
qualities have won so large a place in literature. Al- 
though the contemporary documents are relatively 
scanty, yet they enable us to describe directly the old 
Virginia post, and to show it as the prototype of west- 
ern towns of all times, even of Athabasca Landing in 
our own day. 

Garrisons were from time to time provided by the 
Assembly. Later, in the last decade of the seven- 
teenth and early years of the eighteenth century, one 
of the squadrons of rangers went out, at stated inter- 
vals, from its palisades to beat about the country for 
hostiles. Just across the river was situated the prin- 
cipal village or "town" of the Appomattox Indians, 



The Discovery of the Ohio Waters 33 

who furnished Wood with messengers, hunters, por- 
ters, and courageous and faithful guides. At its ware- 
houses were fitted out the pack-trains of the Indian 
traders. Sometimes these traders were the servants 
or paid agents of Wood or of his associates, sometimes 
they were free traders, "of substance and reputation," 
who received goods on credit, and contracted to pay 
for them at a stipulated price. Wood imported from 
England the varied articles of barter, chiefly 

Guns, Powder, Shot, Hatchets (which the Indians call 
Tomahawks), Kettles, red and blue Planes, Duffields, Stroud- 
water blankets, and some Cutlary Wares, Brass Rings and 
other Trinkets. These Wares are made up into Packs and 
Carryed upon Horses, each Load being from one hundred, 
fifty to tAvo hundred Pounds, with which they are able to 
travel about twenty miles a day, if Forage happen to be 
plentiful. ^^ 

In the early days, before the competition of Charles- 
ton began to be felt, the pack-trains might count a 
hundred horses. Guided by only fifteen or sixteen 
men they filed off with tinkling bells southward along 
the Occoneechee path to visit the Indians of the South 
Carolina and Georgia piedmont, or even to swing 
around the end of the Appalachian mountains and 
track northward again to the Cherokee."^ Chiefs of 
distant tribes, like the "king" of the Cherokee, came 
in with their followers to trade and treat with Wood 
and received suitable entertainment; though rival 
traders and the Indians of the nearer tribes, anxious 
to retain their position as middlemen, tried by force 
or fraud to intercept them and frequently succeeded. 

22 Byrd, William. Writings, 234-235. 

^^ — Ibid., 184-185, 234-235; Lawson, John. History of Carolina, "Pre- 
face," and 81-82, 95-96, and passim. 



34 Trans-Allegheny Region 

Exploring expeditions were sent out from time to 
time, and these were often followed by supporting 
and searching parties. 

Such was the residence and business headquarters 
of Abraham Wood, who was to prove himself the 
Frontenac of Virginia, the organizer of the first great 
explorations of British America. He made himself 
so much a part of the frontier community and was so 
actively concerned in person or through his agents in 
the western expeditions throughout the generation 
prior to 1676, that the history of westward expansion 
during the period is almost a biography of this re- 
markable man. 

Inquiry into his origin and his life before he be- 
came commander of Fort Henry in 1646 encounters 
most serious difficulties. A lad named Abraham 
Wood came to Virginia in the ''Margaret and John" 
in 1620, as an indentured servant, and he Was living 
in the service of Captain Samuel Mathews on that 
worthy's plantation across the river from Jamestown 
in 1623 ^^^ i" 1625."* This boy is usually identified 
with the distinguished man of later years. The ages 
would seem to fit well, and after diligent search, it 
has been impossible to find mention of another Abra- 
ham Wood in the colony in the early seventeenth cen- 
tury. Since the rise to prominence of a former in- 
dentured servant is in several instances established, 
that fact cannot militate against the identity. It 

-* "List of the Living and Dead in Virginia," February i6, 1623, in 
Colonial Records of Virginia (Richmond, 1874), 46 ; "Muster of the Inhabit- 
ants in Virginia," 1624/5, »" Hotten, J. C. Emigrants, 233. The boy's age 
is given here as ten, but it is not certain whether that is to be taken as his 
age in 1625, when the muster was taken, or in 1620 when he was brought 
over. 



The Discovery of the Ohio Waters 35 

should be noticed, however, that before the dissolu- 
tion of the London Company in 1624, i^ was practi- 
cally necessary for anyone, not a member of the com- 
pany to enter into indenture of some sort in order 
to go to the new country; and the census of 1625 
shows that on many of the "particular plantations" 
all except the commander were ranked as ''servants." 
The terms of these indentures are unknown and there 
is no reason to suppose that all were alike, so that it 
is not necessary to think that Abraham Wood, the 
servant, was a menial, or a field hand, or that his ex- 
traction was not good and colonial connections help- 
ful.^^ The surname Wood is indeed not uncommon 
in early Virginia,^'' and there is no certain proof of 
the identity of the boy and the man, yet there is no 
direct evidence to the contrary, and the identification 
seems on the whole sufficiently probable to receive 
provisional acceptance. 

The first appearance of Abraham Wood as a man, 
and undeniably the Wood of history, is in 1638, when, 
according to the identification just accepted, he was 
twenty-eight years old. From that time until 1680, 
the records have by assiduous patching of tiny frag- 
ments been made to give us a reasonably continuous, 
though by no means complete and satisfactory ac- 
count of him. No record of the date or circum- 
stances of his death has been found, and he passes 
from the stage as shrouded in obscurity as he entered 
it. During forty-two years of known active life he 

25 Compare the case of Adam Thoroughgood. 

28 Smith, John. History of Virginia, vol. i, 234, 237, vol. ii, 55, 137, 
149, 261 ; indices of the Calendar of State Papers, Colonial, for the period, 
under "Wood." 



36 Trans- Allegheny Region 

attained eminence as a landowner, politician, soldier, 
trader, and explorer. His position in each of these 
lines of endeavor was as high as the colony afforded, 
and the first adequate presentation of his life reveals 
him as, with the possible exceptions of Bacon and 
Berkeley, the most interesting and commanding fig- 
ure of contemporary Virginia. 

Apart from the services to Western exploration, 
which would in any case have entitled him to a place 
in American history, Wood's career merits careful 
study as that of a typical Virginian of the seventeenth 
century. Even in the obscurity of his origin he was 
representative of a large section of the successful 
colonists of his time. As with most of his fellows, no 
personal or family records have preserved his mem- 
ory to us. A single letter, now first printed, is the 
only known paper that has come down from his hand. 
In the direction of his energies and in the methods by 
which he achieved success, he is the perfect example 
of the seventeenth century Virginian of the upper or 
"planter" class. The following condensed sketch of 
his personal fortunes aims to add another to the small 
group of individual or family studies which alone 
enable us to make a basic and reliable analysis of the 
economic foundations, structure, and conditions of 
growth of early Virginian society, and particularly 
of the so-called aristocracy," 

To secure land, and in large amounts, was the 
earliest care of any ambitious colonist. Accordingly, 

27 Bassett's account of the rise and decay of the Byrd famih% in his intro- 
duction to the JVritings of Byrd, is much the best of these studies. The 
close similarity of the career of Wood to that of his younger contemporary, 
the first W^illiam Byrd, will be observed. 



The Discovery of the Ohio Waters 37 

we first find Wood busily engaged in taking up large 
tracts in Henrico and Charles City Counties. On 
May 14, 1638, he patented four hundred acres in 
Charles City, on the Appomattox River.^^ The next 
year he secured two hundred acres in Henrico, and 
in 1642, seven hundred more in the same county.^^ 
In 1646 he acquired another six hundred acres in the 
Fort Henry tract, by special grant of the Assembly.^" 
His land hunger, as well as the means of satisfying it, 
apparently increased with his growing power, for on 
June 9, 1653, we find him patenting one thousand, 
five hundred, fifty seven acres on the south side of the 
Appomattox River in Charles City County,^^ and ac- 
quiring another seven hundred acres in Henrico in 
the following year,^^ and apparently finishing his en- 
deavors in this direction on September 16, 1663, by 
patenting two thousand and seventy-three acres in 
Charles City, on the south side of the Appomattox, 
adjoining Fort Henry.^^ 

The grants listed include a total of six thousand 
two hundred and thirty acres, unless, as is probable, 
one or more of them was a re-grant of patents allowed 
to lapse by non-payment of fees. This amount alone 
is large for the early time and for the soon thickly 
settled and valuable lands along the tidal reaches of 
the James and Appomattox; but it is extremely im- 
probable that it includes all of Wood's holdings, par- 
ticularly in view of the fact that no addition has been 

28 JVilliam and Mary Quarterly, vol. ix, 230, 

29 Virgima County Records, vol. vi, 82. 
3^ See pages 30-31. 

31 fVilliam and Mary Quarterly, vol. x, 26, 246. 

32 Virginia County Records, vol. vi, 82. 

33 JVilliam and Mary Quarterly, vol. x, 27, 248. 



38 Trans-Allegheny Region 

found later than 1663. This is enough to illustrate 
the gradual method of acquisition, and to show the 
man as one of the substantial landowners of the colony 
by the time he had reached middle life. Perhaps, 
after 1663, the press of other and more profitable and 
absorbing interests diverted his attention from the en- 
grossing of wild land. 

Men who would rise in early Virginia turned 
naturally and necessarily to politics, and for large 
landowners success was easy and almost automatic. 
Six years after his appearance as a patentee, Wood 
made his entrance into the political field as member 
of the House of Burgesses for Henrico County, at 
the session beginning October i, 1644. He continued 
to serve in this capacity for two years and was present 
at the session mentioned and at those beginning 
February 17, 1644/5, November 29, 1645, March, 
1645/6, and October 5, 1646. As burgess for Charles 
City County, he w^as present at the sessions beginning 
November 20, 1654, and December, 1656. During 
this time he rendered the usual service on committees, 
being placed on the committee for private causes, 
November 29, 1654, ^"^ ^^ ^^^ committee on mar- 
kets, March 20, 1655. His most important service of 
this kind was on the committee "for Review of Acts" 
(December, 1656), designated to codify the laws of 
the colony. This committee labored diligently at its 
task, and digested all the acts of Assembly into one 
volume, in which form they were enacted at the ses- 
sion of March, 1657/8." 

3* Hening, W. W. Statutes at Lar^e, vol. i, 283, 289, 299, 322, 373, 386, 
421, 426, 427; Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, vol. viii, 388, 
389, being excerpts from the Randolph Mss. 



The Discovery of the Ohio Waters 39 

The Council was the goal of political endeavor in 
colonial Virginia. It was not merely the upper 
branch of the Assembly, but an administrative body 
advisory to the governor, and the highest court in the 
colony. It numbered but a dozen men, and these 
were usually, even uniformly, the most influential 
and wealthy in the colony. Membership was for life, 
and a council seat was the highest place open to a 
colonist. In the spring of 1658, Wood passed into 
this body. It was during the period of the provision- 
al government, and vacancies in the council were 
being filled by the local authorities. There may have 
been a conflict between the executive and the popular 
chamber over the manner of Wood's choice, for he is 
reported as elected councillor by the burgesses, 
March 13, 1657/8,^^ and again as being nominated by 
the governor and approved by the House, April 3, 
1658.^^ 

Wood lived to serve in this, the highest governing 
body of the colony, for at least twenty-two years. His 
name occurs occasionally in its fragmentary records, 
but nothing of importance about him is preserved." 
The last appearance is in a curious connection. For 
January 23, 1679/80, there has been preserved a 
tantalizing fragment of the council journal: "For 

35 Hening, W. W. Statutes at Large, vol. i, 432. 

^^ — Ibid., 505. To make the episode yet raore confusing, the notes made 
by Conway Robinson from the council records destroyed in the burning of 
the old General Court-house on evacuation day, 1865, state that Wood was 
sworn councillor, June 2, 1657; but this is probably an error. Virginia 
Magazine of History and Biography, vol. viii, 164. See also Ibid., vol. ix, 
308. 

3T Hening, W. W. Statutes at Large, vol. i, 526. Virginia Maga- 
zine of History and Biography, vol. xii, 205 (i66o), vol. iv, 245 (1667). 



40 Trans-Allegheny Region 

insulting words to Major-General Wood, forgiveness 
to be asked." ^'^ Evidently the septuagenarian coun- 
cillor retained his spirit, and some indiscreet unknown 
was forced to eat his words. His death must have 
occurred shortly thereafter.^^ 

In colonial Virginia law was closely associated with 
politics. Even before the emergence of a group of 
trained lawyers, the ordinary prominent citizen took 
a keen and intelligent interest in legal affairs. The 
association of land-owning, too, with local judicial 
service was almost as strong as in contemporary Eng- 
land. Wood's career is somewhat typical in this re- 
gard also. His service while in the House of Bur- 
gesses on the committee for private causes and that 
for review of acts has just been mentioned. In 1656, 
we find him petitioning the House that courts be held 
on the south side of the river, for the benefit of the 
inhabitants of the south side of Charles City County."" 
For some years he was one of the justices of the peace 
of his home county." Finally, on November 28, 1676, 
he was appointed by the home government a member 
of the special commission of oyer and terminer for 
Virginia, which was to settle affairs in the colony 
after Bacon's Rebellion."" He thus rendered distin- 
guished service, and received honorable recognition 

3^ Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, vol. ix, i88. 

3^ A list of signatures of the councillors on May lo, 1682, is extant, and 
Wood's name is not among them; but only nine names appear. Virginia 
Magazine of History and Biography, vol. xviii, 249. 

*^ Hening, W. W. Statutes at Large, vol. i, 426. 

^1 "Records of Charles City Co.," June 4, 1655, February 3, 1657, in 
William and Mary Quarterly, vol. iv, 167-168. 

*2 Calendar of State Papers, Colonial, America and West Indies, 1675/6, 
no. 1134. 



The Discovery of the Ohio Waters 41 

in this, as in all other lines of endeavor characteristic 
of the colony in his day. 

Nearly every prominent Virginian of the seven- 
teenth century served as an officer in the colonial 
militia. The intimate connection between land-hold- 
ing and leadership in the public defense, inherited 
from sixteenth century England, had not been broken. 
A commission in the militia meant, not only title, 
uniform, and parade duty but also readiness for 
prompt active service, sudden alarms, toilsome 
marches through the wild country, and often danger- 
ous fighting, varied with garrison duty for a few, and 
occasional general musters against actual or expected 
naval attacks from overseas.*^ 

Abraham Wood is first mentioned as a militia 
soldier in 1646, when his rank was that of captain. 
In thirty-four years of known service he rose succes- 
sively through every grade to the ranking position 
of major-general, in which his military authority in 
the colony was, for at least a decade, inferior to that 
of the governor only. Just when he entered the 
militia is not known, but he is listed as "Mr." in the 
records of the burgesses until the session of October, 
1646, so it is probable that the command at Fort 
Henry in the spring of that year was his first com- 
mission. By 1652 he is "Major" Wood, and in 1655 
he is described as "Lieutenant-colonel." In Decem- 
ber of the following year he received his promotion to 
the colonelcy of the Charles City and Henrico regi- 

*3 The best account of the structure and services of the Virginia military 
establishment is in Bruce's Institutional History of Virginia, part iv, es- 
pecially chap, ii, on the character and function of the officers. 



42 Trans- Allegheny Region 

ment, by special act of the Burgesses growing out of 
the legislative investigation and removal of Colonel 
Edward Hill for misconduct as commander in the 
well-known affair at the forks of the Pamunkey, 
where the Virginians and friendly Pamunkeys were 
so badly defeated by the strange Ricahecrian Indians 
from beyond the mountains. Just when he was made 
one of the major-generals of the colony does not 
appear, but it was not earlier than 1663 nor later 
than 1 671.''* 

The Charles City and Henrico regiment had more 
Indian fighting to do than any other of the militia 
bodies, owing to the location of the counties in ques- 
tion; and Wood must have gained much experience 
in active service. This, together with his unrivaled 
knowledge of the western country and of the Indians, 
made him probably the most trusted and valued of 
the militia officers. During the serious Indian trou- 
bles early in 1676, Berkeley complained to the home 
government that Wood was "kept to his house thro 
infirmity," and that certain of the subordinate officers 
were either dead or for various reasons unavailable." 
The unaccustomed vacillation and inefficiency of the 
governor in this crisis may have been due in great 
measure to the absence of his reliable commanders. 
The old general's health seems to have mended, how- 
ever, for in the Indian alarm of 1678 general super- 
vision of all arrangements for defense was committed 

** Hening, W. W. Statutes at Large, vol. i, 299, 315, 322, 373, 426; 
Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, vol. viii, 389; IFilliam and 
Mary Quarterly, vol. ix, 27, 248 ; post, page 184. 

*5 Calendar of State Papers, Colonial, America and West Indies, 1675- 
1676, no. 859. 



The Discovery of the Ohio Waters 43 



to "Major [General?] Abraham Wood," and all 
persons were warned to obey him.*^ 

Wood's last public service, so far as known, was 
the conduct of negotiations with a threatening Indian 
war-confederacy in the winter of 1679-1680. Nich- 
olas Spencer wrote to the Lords of Trade and Plan- 
tations on March 18, 1680, that "Colonel Wood, a 
person well skilled in all Indian affairs," had been 
chosen by the governor and council to try to effect the 
desired arrangement with the hostiles. 

He negotiated the same with great prudence and at length 
arranged that the chief men of the Indian confederate hostile 
towns should meet at Jamestown on the lOth of this month, 
to be heard on behalf of their towns and to answer the 
charges against them. They received every assurance of safe 
protection but appeared not, whether kept back by the knowl- 
edge of their guilt, or misapprehensions of our sincerity (for 
which the Christians have given but too good reasons), or 
perverted by the clandestine designs of some Indian traders, 
who wished to upset this arrangement of Colonel Wood for 
their own ends, I cannot guess. I incline to think the last 
is the true reason. . . When we consider that Captain 
Byrd killed seven surrendered Indians and took away their 
wives and children prisoners, on the mere suspicion that they 
were assassins of our people, we can hardly wonder at the 
failure of the treaty.*'' 

Because of the lack of Wood's letters and other 
papers, it is impossible to give any satisfactory ac- 
count of his activities as a trader; but the documents 

*^ Bruce, Philip A. Institutional History of Virginia, vol. ii, 91 and 
footnote, 91-92 (from Henrico Co. records). 

*7 It is barely possible that the Abraham Wood of this and the preced- 
ing incident may have been a son of the subject of our sketch, as the title 
assigned him in each instance would indicate; but both are probable mis- 
takes. Calendar of State Papers, Colonial, America and West Indies, 1677- 
1680, no. 1326. 



44 Trans-Allegheny Region 

printed in this volume display the character and ex- 
tent of his interest in the Indian trade. The early 
date and broad sweep of his explorations, and the 
large sums of ready money expended on them ; ** the 
many incidents in the documents revealing the extent 
of his Indian connections and influence; the favorable 
location of his trading post and the growth of Peters- 
burg upon its site; and the jealousy of other traders, 
mentioned in his letter to Richards " and in Spencer's 
letter just quoted, all go to show that his ventures in 
this traffic must have been the most extended and 
among the most successful of the time. From the 
analogy of contemporaries and rivals, like William 
Byrd, we may infer that he was also a local mer- 
chant, but there is no direct information on the point. 
In the economic society of that day, trade was the 
greatest avenue to the acquisition of ready money, and 
Wood's fortune, was, like those of so many of the most 
prominent Virginians of the time, doubtless based 
largely upon it. 

Of the family and descendants of Abraham Wood 
but little has been learned. Whom he married is not 
known. The only child whose existence and iden- 
tity are certain is a daughter, Mary.^" Like her fath- 
er's, her career was typical of the American pioneer 
society. Her married life covered not less than fifty- 
nine years, counting intervals of widowhood. During 
this time she had three husbands and probably out- 

** See pages 210-211, 216. 

*^ See page 225. 

50 It is stated in the William and Mary Quarterly, vol. xv, 234-235, that 
Thomas Wood was a son of the general, but no ground for the assertion is 
given, and none except inference can be found. 



The Discovery of the Ohio Waters 45 

lived the last of them.'' Whether it was Peter Jones, 
her last husband, or one of his descendants, who 
robbed Wood of his rightful fame by giving a name 
to the town of Petersburg, is a subject of dispute, and 
no clear proofs are offered for either assertion." 
Nothing further concerning Wood's family has come 
to light, and inasmuch as his will was probably 
lost in the destruction of the Charles City records '^ 
the facts may never be fully known. 

After having thus learned to know the man it is 
time to turn to his activities as an explorer, the story 
of which is so largely a part of the general history of 
the westward movement of his era. 

The governors of Virginia had occasionally dis- 
played an interest in westward exploration, and in 
the possibility of crossing the mountains, long before 
any serious plans for that purpose were made. Thus 
the governor and council wrote to the Privy Council 
on May 17, 1626, that "discoveries by land . . . 
are of great hope both for the riches of the mountains 
and probabilities of finding the passage to the South 

^1 The first was John Bly, whose will was probated in London, May i6, 
1664. No children are mentioned. {Virginia Magazine of History and 
Biography, vol. xiii, 57.) The second was Thomas Chamberlayne, who 
with his wife, Mary, recorded, in 1686, a deed conveying to certain parties 
land devised to them by Wood. {Ibid., vol. viii, 76.) The third was Peter 
Jones. He owned the estate at his death and left eight children, by his 
wife Mary. Two of these were named Abraham and Wood respectivelj'. 
This Mary may have been a granddaughter of Abraham Wood. (Will of 
Peter Jones, in Ibid., vol. iv, 284-288. Genealogy, JVilliam and Mary 
Quarterly, vol. xix, 287-292). 

^2 Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, vol. iv, 465-466 ; JVil- 
liam and Mary Quarterly, vol. xv, 234-235. The origin of the name 
"Petersburg" in compliment to any of the Peter Joneses seems indeed as- 
sumed rather than proved. 

53 Letter of W. G. Stanard, March 12, 1908. 



46 Trans-Allegheny Region 

Sea . . ." and desired that munitions for this 
and other purposes be furnished by the home gov- 
ernment.^* 

No reflection of the private project of 1641-1643 ^^ 
has been found in the governor's correspondence; but 
when interest in exploration revived after the estab- 
lishment of the fall-line posts, the executive as well 
as private parties and the burgesses gave attention to 
the subject. From letters which reached England 
from Virginia in March, 1648, we learn that Indian 
rumors had already come to Governor Berkeley con- 
cerning the lands beyond the mountains, of its great 
river s^^stems, of the Gulf of Mexico, and of the red- 
capped Spaniards, riding on asses, who occasionally 
visited its shores. Berkeley was reported to be on the 
point of leading a party to pass the mountains and 
visit this country, and thus open the trade route to 
Asia for which the earlier explorers had so vainly 
sought - a project which he kept more or less in mind 
for twenty years but never carried out. 

An unknown writer's words bring us still some- 
thing of the excitement and confident expectation felt 
by the people of that day. 

And the Indians have of late acquainted our Governour, 
that within five dayes journey to the \/estward and by South, 
there is a great high mountaine, and at the foot thereof, great 
Rivers that run into a great Sea ; and that there are men that 
come hither in ships, (but not the same as ours be) they weare 
apparell and have reed Caps on their heads, and ride on 
Beasts like our Horses, but have much longer eares and other 
circumstances they declare for the certainty of these things. 

That Sir William vi^as here upon preparing fifty Horse 

^* Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, vol. ii, 53. 
^^ See page 28. 



The Discovery of the Ohio Waters 47 

and fifty Foot, to go and discover this thing himself in person, 
and take all needfull provision in that case requisite along 
with him; he was ready to go when these last ships set sail 
for England in April last: and we hope to give a good ac- 
compt of it by the next ships, God giving a blessing to the 
enterprize, which will mightily advance and enrich this Coun- 
try; for it must needs prove a passage to the South Sea (as 
we call it) and also some part of China and the East Indies."^® 

In a similar pamphlet printed the next year we hear 
of pearls, of mines, and of the proximity of the South 
Sea beyond the mountains, together with suggestions 
for exploration. Some idea of the Ohio-Mississippi 
waterway was now taking a more definite shape, for 
this writer states that of the great rivers heading out 
from the Gulf of St. Lawrence, one, as yet undiscov- 
ered, runs along all the back of Virginia, southward 
toward Florida." It is to be observed that the dis- 
tance which separated Virginia from these alluring 
regions was even then conceived as far smaller than 
is the actual fact. Farrer appended to his map of 
165 1 the opinion that "the Sea of China and the In- 
dies" could be reached in ten days overland from the 
head of James River.^^ 

At least one important journey into the western 
country was actually made during these years. ^^ On 
the twenty-seventh of August, 1650, a little party filed 
out from Fort Henry and directed their march to- 
wards the southwest. These first adventurers were 



^^ A perfect description of Virginia (London, 1649); also in Force, 
Peter, Tracts (Washington, 1836), vol. ii, no. 8, 13-14. 

^"^ Virginia ricJily and truly valued (London, 1650) ; in Force, Peter, 
Tracts, vol. iii, no. 11, 41-45. 

ss Farrer's Map of Virginia, 1651, in Fiske, Old Virginia and her neigh- 
bors, vol. ii, 12. 

^^ See pages 109-130. 



48 Trans- Allegheny Region 

Edward Bland, an English merchant settled in 
Charles City County, Captain Abraham Wood, and 
two gentlemen of the colony, Sackford Brewster and 
Elias Pennant by name, all mounted, together with a 
white servant of each of the first two, and an Appo- 
mattox Indian guide, on foot. The Tuscarora vil- 
lages seem to have been the objective point. 

The Virginia piedmont across which their journey 
took them is a rolling or hilly country sloping gently 
to the east. At the time when the explorers entered 
this practically unknown land, it offered a pleasant 
variety of forest and grass lands, intersected by nar- 
row meadow and swamp tracts in the stream ''bot- 
toms." Here, as almost everywhere, the Indians fol- 
lowed the custom of burning over the country in the 
fall, so that the level uplands and long gentle slopes 
were kept as open grazing country, pasture for deer, 
elk, and buffalo. The poorer, stonier, and steeper 
ground was covered with forests of deciduous growth, 
and the bottoms, where not cleared by the Indians for 
their fields, were covered with a practically impene- 
trable tangle of well-nigh tropical luxuriance. Food 
for the wild things was plentiful, so that game was 
found in almost inconceivable plenty, and the abun- 
dant watercourses teemed with fish, particularly- in 
the rivers and larger streams - the huge sturgeon. 
Even today the country abounds in wild fruits and 
flowers as do few other regions, and berries of every 
sort line the road-sides and fill the open spaces in the 
woods in midsummer. 

It was with feelings of admiration, wonder, and 
awe, that the explorers entered this region which 



The Discovery of the Ohio Waters 49 

gave such hope for the future, and with keen eyes 
they marked the spots for plantations and cities, that 
their descendants would enjoy. They picked up an 
additional guide at a Nottaway village some twenty 
miles out, on the first day, and kept on in a southwest- 
wardly direction for five days. They crossed the 
Blackwater, Nottaway, and Meherrin Rivers, with 
several of their tributaries, and on the fifth day 
reached the falls of the Roanoke, where the Dan and 
Staunton unite to form that river, at the present site 
of Clarksville, Virginia, close to the North Carolina 
line, and in an air line some sixty-five miles from their 
starting point. Bland estimated that they had trav- 
eled one hundred and twenty miles; and making al- 
lowances for the natural exaggeration of distances 
traversed in the wilderness, and for the deviations in 
their course, this was not a surprising over-estimation. 
He was also under the erroneous impression that they 
had actually come to a westward-flowing river, and 
does not speak of the country thereabout as a part of 
Virginia, but as an entirely separate region - "New 
Brittaine." 

The party passed through numerous Indian vil- 
lages on the way, where they were not very hospitably 
received. The demeanor of the natives grew more 
and more unfriendly and threatening as they ad- 
vanced, and several attempts were made to frighten 
or deceive them. Some of the latter met with success. 
A runner, who was dispatched to the Tuscarora chief 
and to an Englishman supposed to be then among 
the Tuscaroras, went instead to give the alarm to a 
tribe farther down the river. Fearing the plots that 



50 Trans- Allegheny Region 

seemed to be forming around them, they contented 
themselves with examining the falls, the sturgeon 
fishing place, and the adjacent country, and then 
turned back, regaining Fort Henry in four days, by a 
slightly different route. They slept on their arms 
and set a watch every night during the journey, but 
met with no harm or bloodshed. 

Bland made a careful and apparently accurate note 
of the distances, directions, and streams crossed every 
day, and in addition observed and recorded the topog- 
raphy and soil at every sub-stage of the journey. 
Drainage, timber, and vegetation are faithfully de- 
scribed. Much of the land crossed was then cham- 
paign country. With the soil about the Roanoke 
River the travelers were especially delighted, and 
they even persuaded themselves that its climate was 
superior to that of settled Virginia. 

The narrative makes it plain that the region cov- 
ered was already familiar ground to the Virginia 
traders. Bland's party professed to come to trade, 
but he at least was evidently more interested in land- 
looking; and his praises of the new country as a re- 
gion for colonization, and especially the ardent ex- 
hortation "To The Reader" to further its settlement,'"* 
and the quotation from Raleigh," reveal him as ante- 
dating William Byrd by three quarters of a cen- 
tury as the original "boomer" of this "Eden." On 
his return Bland promptly obtained an order from 
the Assembly (October 20, 1650), allowing him to 
explore and colonize the new country, provided he 

^'^ See pages iio-iii. 
"^ See pages 112-113. 



The Discovery of the Ohio Waters 51 

should attempt it with a hundred well-armed men/' 
His book, printed in London the following year, and 
affording our knowledge of the expedition, was doubt- 
less published with a view to aiding in the assemblage 
of this force. His early death, about 1653, probably 
prevented the execution of the plan. 

Bland and his party told the Indians that they were 
sent out by the governor of Virginia.®^ Whether this 
was spoken in truth or merely to overawe the natives, 
Berkeley seems to have referred the question of fur- 
ther exploration to the home government for settle- 
ment, for an order of the Council of State of Septem- 
ber 25, 165 1, directed "the Committee of the admir- 
alty to consider what is fit to be done concerning the 
discovery to be made to the west of the falls of James 
River in Virginia and report thereon." ®* 

Whether the Admiralty reported does not appear, 
but in the following year private parties were actively 
interested, and received encouragement from the Vir- 
ginia Assembly. In November, 1652, the latter body 
passed an order, reciting the fact of the grant of 
1643 "'^ and of its subsequent voidance, and giving to 
William Clayborne, the celebrated parliamentary 
commissioner and enemy of Lord Baltimore, and 
Captain Henry Fleet, a gentleman prominent in the 
colony, a monopoly of trade for the usual term of 
fourteen years, and first choice of lands, in any re- 
gions in which they might make new discoveries. 

®2 See page 112. 
^3 See page 117. 

** Calendar of State Papers, Colonial, America and JVest Indies, 1574- 
1660, no. 360. 
^^ See page 28. 



52 Trans-Allegheny Region 

"Major Abraham Wood and his associates" received 
separately the same privileges."*' The order which 
Bland had secured from the Assembly in 1650 had 
named him specifically, but had allowed "any other" 
the same license to prosecute the colonizing enter- 
prise. Whether Wood was instrumental in securing 
this provision, and proposed to act separately, or 
whether he was associated with Bland in 1650, and 
whether Bland was among Wood's associates in 1652, 
or whether he had already passed from the stage, or 
whether, again, Wood had in mind a different ven- 
ture, cannot be determined. It is a likely conjecture 
that Wood was always the moving spirit, even in the 
expedition of 1650, notwithstanding the fact that 
Bland wrote its history and made himself the most 
conspicuous figure in it. 

More tantalizing still is the order of the Assembly 
of July, 1653, wherein "diverse gentlemen" who had 
"a voluntarie desire to discover the Mountains and 
supplicated for lycence" to do so were permitted to 
go on their quest, provided they should take a force 
strong both in men and ammunition." Who these 
gentlemen were, or whether they fulfilled their de- 
sire, cannot be found in the records now known to be 
extant. Could we find out their names and fortunes 
the most baffling problem of this whole period of 
exploration, namely. Wood's alleged discoveries of 
1654, might be solved. 

Cropping out in all the literature of Mississippi 
Valley exploration, from the eighteenth century to 
the monographs of contemporary scholars, is the bare 

^^ See page 102. 
"^ See page 103. 



The Discovery of the Ohio Waters 53 

statement, now calmly presented as a fact, now con- 
temptuously mentioned as a lie, that in the year 1654, 
or at various times in the decade following that year, 
Abraham Wood gained the banks of the Ohio, or of 
the Mississippi, or of both. It can probably never 
be either proved or disproved with absolute certainty, 
but long and patient search has yielded the facts about 
to be recited, and only these. They are trustworthy 
as far as they go, and in spite of meagreness appear to 
warrant the statement in categorical form of the con- 
clusions drawn from them. 

Dr. Daniel Coxe, whose career will be dealt with 
later,®^ was the first to mention the episode. His 
account appears in a memorial to King William, 
presented to the Board of Trade Nov. 16, 1699,^^ and 
in the younger Coxe's book Carolana.'"^ Coxe states 
that at several times during the decade 1654- 1664 
Wood discovered ''several branches of the great riv- 
ers Ohio and Meschacebe." In confirmation, Coxe 
alleges that he was at one time in possession of a jour- 
nal of a Mr. Needham, one of the agents Wood em- 
ployed in his exploring expeditions. Now Wood's 
men did discover branches of the Ohio and Missis- 
sippi, in the years 1671-1674; and the Needham re- 
ferred to was employed in the most brilliant of those 
discoveries. Since Coxe states incorrectly both 
Wood's title and place of residence,^^ it is most prob- 
able that his information about the date was also in- 



^^ See pages 229-232, footnote 184. 

69 Calendar of State Papers, Colonial, America and West Indies, 1699, 
no. 967. 

'^'^ Coxe, Daniel. Carolana, 114, 120. 

"1 "Colonel Wood in Virginia inhabiting at the Falls of James river." — 
Coxe, Carolana, 120. 



54 Trans- Allegheny Region 

correct. One of Coxe's later memorials to the Board 
of Trade, which constitutes the last chapter of this 
volume, omits all mention of the episode. 

It would seem that subsequent writers have simply 
followed Coxe, either at first or second hand. The 
earliest and most often cited of these, the authors of 
the State of the British and French Colonies (1755) 
and of the Contest in America, reproduced Coxe's 
statements with fair correctness, attributing to Wood 
the discovery in 1654 of certain branches only of the 
great western river system. Later historians, of whom 
Parkman and Winsor are the most distinguished, have 
usually reproduced the story so as to make it appear as 
if Wood or his agents were said to have discovered 
the Mississippi itself. The whole tone of the Fallam 
journal ^^ and of Wood's letter regarding the explor- 
ations of 1673-1674,^^ and especially Wood's refer- 
ences in that letter to the discoveries of Batts and 
Fallam in 1671,^* make it reasonably certain that 
Wood had not been on the western waters at any prior 
time." 

Dismissing, therefore, this alleged discovery of the 

■^2 See pages 183-193. 

"3 See pages 210-226. 

^* See page 210. 

''^ State of the British and French Colonies (London, 1755), reproduces 
Coxe exactly. [John Mitchell], The Contest in America (1757), speaks of 
"A large branch of the Ohio, called Wood River, from Colonel Wood of 
Virginia, who discovered it first in 1654, and several times afterwards, of 
which an authentic account is to be seen in the archives of the royal society, 
besides the accounts we have of that discovery from our historians." The 
"authentic account" referred to is that of the Batts-Fallam party of 1671, 
sent to the Royal Society by Mr. Clayton, and printed hereinafter with an 
accompanying commentary- by Mitchell, who in the passage quoted means 
that it is a narrative, not of the supposed journey of 1654, but of one of the 
"times afterwards." Mitchell also repeats from Coxe the stories of the al- 



The Discovery of the Ohio Waters 55 

western waters in 1654 as unproved and even improb- 
able, let us return to the course of events concerning 
which there is less doubt. About the year 1658 three 
gentlemen of the colony, Major William Lewis, Mr. 
Anthony Langston, and Major William Harris ap- 
plied to the Assembly for a commission to explore the 
mountains and the country to the westward, and "to 
endeavour the finding out of any Commodities that 
might probably tend to the benefitt of this Country." 
The commission was granted, both for their encour- 
agement and for that of others of similar public spir- 
it; ''^ but the sources do not inform us of the result of 
their activities. 

leged discovery of the Mississippi by parties from New England and New 
Jersey in 1672 and 1678 [see pages 233, 243], and subsequent writers have 
sometimes apparently confused these with the exploits attributed to Wood. 
Ramsey [Annals of Tennessee, 37], and Martin [^North-CaroUna, vol. i, 115], 
say that Wood reached the Ohio in 1654. Adair [^American Indians (1775), 
308] claims that Wood was the first discoverer of the Mississippi, 1654- 
1664. Thomas Jefferys [^History of the French Dominions in America, 134], 
claims the first discovery of the Mississippi for Wood, 1654-1664. On 
Jefferys's map [Winsor, Mississippi Basin, 421], it is stated that Wood went 
beyond the Mississippi in the decade mentioned. Rafinesque [Marshall, 
History of Kentucky, 37], says that Kentucky was first discovered by Colonel 
Wood in 1654. Parkman [La Salle and the Discovery of the Great West, 
5] repeats the story that Colonel Wood reached a branch of the Mis- 
sissippi in 1654, to dismiss it as unfounded. Winsor {^Cartier to Fronte- 
nac, 183] mentions Coxe's version of the matter but does not credit it. In 
the Mississippi Basin on page 229, he states it as a fact that Colonel Abra- 
ham Wood led an expedition up the Dan River and through the Blue Ridge 
to the New River, in 1744 [jzV], while on page 452 he refers to the un- 
supported narrative of adventures of Colonel Wood in 1654-1664 as a part 
of the English scheme to push their claims to the Mississippi Basin about 
1764. There is no evidence other than Coxe of a journey by Wood in 1654. 
The fact that Batts and Fallam found marked trees on their route on both 
slopes of the mountains in 1671 proves that other white men had preceded 
them, but not that Wood was the man or the date 1654; on the contrary, 
had the marks been left by Wood, his agents would most likel}' have recog- 
nized them as such. 
'•^ See page 103. 



56 Trans- Allegheny Region 

This ended the period of preliminary explorations 
into the territory lying between the falls of the rivers 
and the mountains. The accounts that have been 
preserved for us are meagre enough, but from them 
and later ones it is evident that the Virginia traders 
had become fairly familiar with the back country, 
and that trade routes to the Indian tribes of the re- 
gion were regularly followed. Besides this opening 
of the trade, land speculators had begun to view the 
country and were planning its colonization, although 
actual settlement had not yet advanced much beyond 
the fall line. 

In the seventh decade of the seventeenth century, 
western exploration received an impetus that was to 
carry it to a successful fulfillment of its object, the 
crossing of the mountains. This impetus, probably, 
did not originate in Virginia, but was an influence 
extending hither from the mother country, to which 
it is necessary to turn for an explanation of its char- 
acter. In 1660, the period of the English Common- 
wealth was definitively brought to a close by the 
crowning of King Charles 11. The contrast of the 
gaiety and gorgeousness of his court with the sombre 
hues of its predecessor has always exercised an influ- 
ence on the imagination to such an extent that we are 
prone to forget, in describing the contrast, that the 
age of the Restoration is one of tremendous expansion 
in all lines of human endeavor. The court of Charles 
II was not the breeder of mistresses and poor poets 
only, but it swarmed with explorers, adventurers, 
promoters of financial schemes, and speculators of 
every variety. The modern business world seemed 



The Discovery of the Ohio Waters 57 

to have jumped full grown from the head of Brit- 
annia. The court became fully alive to the necessity 
of fostering these new enterprises and at the same time 
keeping them under control. For that purpose, a 
special board was appointed, whose duties were later 
placed in the hands of a committee of the Privy 
Council." The merchants were not the only ones in- 
terested in this new business expansion, but found 
eager supporters among the nobles and even in the 
king himself. Profits seemed to become the lodestone 
of the generation. 

Certain men, in the inner circle of public life, 
placed themselves at the head of the undertakings 
which promised the largest returns. The names of 
Lords Ashley (later Shaftesbury), Albemarle, Clar- 
endon, Arlington, Berkeley, and Craven, and Sir 
George Carteret, appear in various groupings on all 
the important charters or as engaged in some manner 
in the various enterprises. 

It was the Duke of York with his personal friends, 
Clarendon, Carteret, and Berkeley who originated 
the movement to seize New Amsterdam, in 1664, 
from the Dutch. A short time afterwards, the first 
cargo of furs arrived in the Thames from that region, 
and London merchants began to catch a glimpse of 
the wealth to be derived from this traffic. Their 
interest in a business, somewhat new to them, was 
heightened by the arrival of M. des Grosseilliers, 
bearing a letter of introduction from the British am- 
bassador at Paris, Lord Arlington, to Prince Rupert. 
There was no man better able to impart information 

'^'^ Andrews, Charles. Colonial self-government, 22 et seq. 



58 Trans- Allegheny Region 

concerning the profits of the American fur-trade than 
Grosseilliers. He had been one of the most success- 
ful fur-traders of Canada for years, and his business 
had led him as far west as the present site of Wiscon- 
sin and north to Hudson's Bay. Angered at his treat- 
ment in Canada and France he came to seek his for- 
tune in England and was immediately received as 
adviser by some of the members of the inner circle 
of politicians. In 1668, Grosseilliers was provided 
with a ship on which he set sail to Hudson's Bay. The 
day of his return was one of triumph for he brought 
with him a rich cargo of furs. 

Practically a new business was thus introduced into 
England. The firms in London and Bristol, w^hich 
had cured and dealt in furs up to this time, were not 
comparable, in the quality or quantity of their output, 
to the great houses of Leipsic, Amsterdam, Paris, and 
Vienna, to which even the English noblemen and 
wealthy merchants resorted for their fur-trimmed 
costumes; but there was now started an enterprise 
which turned the course of trade and made London 
the centre of the market for furs. The English world 
was thoroughly awakened to the possibilities, and it 
is probable that the necessary rivalry with France 
added zest to the adventure. Some lines of poetry, 
written in 1672 and attributed to Dryden, express 
the popular craze. 

Friend, once 'twas Fame that led thee forth 
To brave the Tropic Heat, the Frozen North, 
Late it was Gold, then Beauty was the Spur; 
But now our Gallants venture but for Furs.'^^ 

T8 Quoted in Willson, The Great Company, 166J-1871, vol. i, 6i. For 
the whole discussion of the Hudson's Bay Company and the rise of the fur 
trade, consult the same. 



The Discovery of the Ohio Waters 59 

The immediate outcome of Grosseilliers's success 
was the formation of the Hudson's Bay Company, 
among the members of which were Prince Rupert, 
the Duke of Albemarle, Earl Craven, Lords Arling- 
ton and Ashley. It is not necessary to follow further 
the history of this long-lived company, which down 
to the present time has exercised a very great influence 
on the imperial politics of Great Britain. For the 
present purposes, sufficient has been said to explain 
the influences out of which the company grew and 
to know the interests of the society in which lived the 
men who were instrumental in imparting a new im- 
petus to western exploration in Virginia. 

The English always had in view other interests be- 
sides trade in the founding of colonies, and the main 
motive of the Lords Proprietors in securing a charter 
to Carolina in 1663 appears to have been the profits 
accruing from the exploitation of land, as is shown by 
their advertisements.^® It is not surprising to find that 
the proprietors belonged to the same group of politi- 
cians who were interested in New York and the 
Hudson's Bay Company.^" Their representative in 
America was Sir William Berkeley, the Governor of 
Virginia, to whom was intrusted the inauguration of 
the new government.^^ 

With the development of the interest in the fur- 

'^^ See various pamphlets printed in Salley's Narratwes of Early Carolina, 
1650-1708, In Original Narratives of Early American History. 

8** Of the eight original proprietors three were promoters of the Hudson's 
Bay Company, namel}' Lords Albemarle, Craven, and Ashley, and two were 
relatives of such promoters. Sir Peter Colleton and Sir Philip Carteret. The 
other three, the Earl of Clarendon, Lord Berkeley, and Sir William Berke- 
ley were close political associates. 

81 Chalmers, Political Annals of the United Colonies, partially reprinted 
in Carroll's Collections of South Carolina, vol. ii, 283. 



6o Trans-Allegheny Region 

trade, shortly after the founding of the colony, the 
thought was very natural that by crossing the moun- 
tains to the West, an entrance could be gained to the 
territory which the French fur-traders were exploit- 
ing. There were, as a matter of fact, three points 
of departure that were under the influence of the 
same group of politicians, namely Hudson's Bay, 
New York, and the South (Virginia and Carolina) ; 
and within a short time, there were made most earnest 
efforts from all three points to secure the monopoly 
of the trade from the French, in spite of the king's 
well-known predilection for that nation. 

The profits of the fur-trade were not the only al- 
lurement to these western expeditions. It was not to 
be expected, when such men as Frontenac and La 
Salle, with their more complete knowledge of the 
water systems of the interior valley, were still dream- 
ing of the discovery of a short waterway across Amer- 
ica to the rich commerce of Asia, that those whose 
information was still very meagre, confined, as it was 
for the most part, by the great mountain belt imme- 
diately to the westward, should not also nurse the 
hope that they possessed the key to this great com- 
munication across the continent and should place 
more emphasis in the first instance on this phase of 
their undertaking, as being the one most likely to spur 
the imagination. It is to be noticed also that another 
attraction, as old as the hope of the discovery of a 
water communication with Asia, namely, the finding 
of mines of the precious metals comparable to those 
in the possession of the Spaniards, was still an active 
spur to action. Thus the lure that attracted men 



The Discovery of the Ohio Waters 6i 

westward was triple-headed: Asiatic commerce, 
mines of gold and silver, and the fur-trade. All 
these furnished the impetus to the Virginians to un- 
dertake discovery, just as they all were spurs to the 
French at the north ; but in the end, the last was the 
permanent impulse and has remained, even till our 
own day, the guide to westward advance. 

Although direct proof of any instructions being sent 
by the Lords Proprietors of Carolina to Sir William 
Berkeley of Virginia is lacking, no explanation of the 
renewed interest in western exploration is adequate, 
except to connect it with this outburst of Eng- 
lish enthusiasm for western enterprises. Carolina 
itself was not sufficiently developed to ofifer a base 
from which such expeditions could start, whereas in 
Virginia, the frontier posts had already become the 
centers of Indian trade and around them were col- 
lected the first group of American pioneers, trained 
from childhood to endure the hardships of such en- 
terprises. Furthermore Governor Berkeley, the 
American agent of the interested noblemen, had in 
Abraham Wood, the man best fitted to organize and 
carry to completion the work. 

The date when this new impetus was felt in Vir- 
ginia is known. In the spring of 1668, Governor 
Berkeley began preparing a great expedition "to find 
out the East India sea," as he writes to Lord Arling- 
ton, who, as has been seen, had just sent Grosseilliers 
with that letter of introduction to Prince Rupert, 
which ended in the formation of the Hudson's Bay 
Company. Berkeley declared that two hundred gen- 
tlemen of the colony had engaged to accompany him 



62 Trans- Allegheny Region 

and he expressed the hope of finding silver mines on 
the way, ''for certaine it is that the Spaniard in the 
same degrees of latitude has found many." ®^ Heavy 
rains checked the undertaking, and the memory of 
what befell Raleigh for his unauthorized adventure 
on the Oronoco caused him to defer the expedition 
until a royal commission could be secured. If this 
should be granted, he promised to make the journey, 
in the spring of 1670, in sufficient force to overcome 
"all opposition whether of the Spaniards or In- 
dians." ^^ It is probable that the politicians support- 
ing Berkeley could not obtain the royal mandate, for 
King Charles in the year after this letter was written 
entered into the secret treaty of Dover with Louis 
XIV, which is certainly sufficient explanation of the 
fact that the subsequent explorations were undertaken 
without the royal patronage. Governor Berkeley 
never made the projected trip in person; but he did, 
in the year mentioned, dispatch agents, who failed, 
however, to cross the Blue Ridge. 

Before the governor entrusted the great undertak- 
ing to the hands of Abraham Wood, an opportunity 
to prosecute the work of discovery was offered him 
by the presence in the colony of a German physician, 
John Lederer by name, who possessed a bent for 
travel in strange lands. Of the man's origin and 
early career, there is no certain knowledge. He re- 
mained in Virginia a year and a half and probably 
longer, and during that time made three attempts to 
penetrate the wilderness, but did no better than to 

*2 The letter printed post, pages 175-176, is dated May 27, 1669. 
S3 It is to be noticed that Berkeley thought at this time only of the 
Spaniards and not of the French. 



The Discovery of the Ohio Waters 63 

traverse the piedmont and on two occasions to gain 
the summit of the Blue Ridge. Shortly after return- 
ing from his last trip he was compelled to leave Vir- 
ginia in some haste. Lederer alleged that the cause 
of his flight from Virginia was popular anger at the 
large subsidies devoted by the governor to his ex- 
peditions, but the truth of this is not certain. ^^ He 
went to Maryland, and there made friends, one of 
whom, Sir William Talbot, prepared from Lederer's 
oral narratives and Latin memoranda of his travels a 
little book, which was dedicated to Lord Ashley. 
This was published in London in 1672 and is reprint- 
ed as the third chapter of the present volume. 

Lederer may be characterized as the Hennepin, or 
better as the Lahontan of English exploration. His 
story contains a good many obvious untruths, and in 
the matter of his alleged journey into the Carolinas - 
the latter part of his second expedition - he undoubt- 
edly made a deliberate but clumsy attempt to deceive. 
In general the criticism of his veracity should not be 
too severe, for most of his striking untruths in mat- 
ters of detail were not lies, but the misconceptions of 
a European, new to the country, or merely the harm- 
less exaggerations natural to a certain type of mind.^® 

** The records of Surry County for 1673 contain an item to the effect 
that Dr. Lederer's estate was attached for debt [Clayton-Torrence, Wm. 
Bibliography of Colonial Virginia, 81]. This was two years after his flight 
to Maryland, and is susceptible of several explanations, but in view of 
Lederer's doubtful reputation for veracity it at least throws suspicion upon 
his account of the reasons for his departure. 

^5 In the former class fall his famous yarn about seeing the Atlantic from 
the summit of the Blue Ridge, his mention of the existence in the Virginia 
underbrush of leopards and lions, but "neither so large nor so fierce as those 
of Asia and Africa," his accounts of absolute monarchy among certain 
Indians, and of the great stores of pearl found in their village [post, pages 



64 Trans-Allegheny Region 

Hence while it is true that his unsupported word is 
open to a certain suspicion, it is believed that no ma- 
terial risk of inaccuracy is incurred in accepting his 
narrative where there is no external or internal evi- 
dence of its improbability. 

Lederer started on his first expedition, March 9, 
1669, from the Chickahominy Indian village at the 
falls of the Pamunkey, accompanied only by three 
Indians. He pursued his way up the river, and 
passed its head springs on the thirteenth. On the next 
day he gained from a hilltop his first distant view of 
the Blue Ridge, lying like a low cloud on the horizon, 
before which his Indian guides prostrated themselves 
in reverence to the mountain spirits. The day fol- 
lowing he crossed the Rapidan. He was now travers- 
ing the western edge of the piedmont, a land of sun- 
shine and clear rushing streams, nestling securely 
under the southeast flank of the blue mountain wall. 

On the seventeenth of March, after nine days of 
travel, the little party were under the face of the 
mountains, probably in Madison County. Lederer 
found the slopes and approaches densely set with 
hardwood timber, which offered as great an obstacle 
to the traveler as did the height and steepness of the 
ranges. He was the first white man to view the beauty 
of this region and on his several trips had an oppor- 
tunity to learn how nature here presents an ever 
changing scene. Here the blues of the mountain 
barrier, varying from amethyst or deep purple to sky- 

141, 1^7-148, 153]. Many of these will be explained in the notes. Of the 
second sort are his frequent remarks on the vast number of wild animals of 
various sorts encountered, and on the magnitude and steepness of the moun- 
tains. 



The Discovery of the Ohio Waters 65 

blue or pale mist-like gray, and the gorgeous sunsets, 
are to be seen at all seasons. In spring, the hollows 
and the moist, open spaces at the foot of the moun- 
tains flame with the blossoms of the Judas tree or red- 
bud; in fall the foliage shows a brilliancy and har- 
mony of color unmatched outside the Appalachian 
region. Wherever fire or axe or thinness of soil have 
given it light and room the mountain laurel grows. 
In May it blooms in the lower woods and on the 
rough little foothills irregularly dotting the western 
edge of the piedmont. In June the main ranges show 
mile after mile of blossom; in the cool stream-notch- 
es and north-side hollows of the higher slopes and 
summits, the laurel is joined by its larger and hand- 
somer cousin, the rhododendron, pink and white; and 
there one finds midsummer yet gay with bloom. 

Lederer required a full day to ascend the moun- 
tain. The horses were left at the foot, but even to 
man, the dense underbrush offered almost insuperable 
obstacles. At last he reached the summit, which was 
probably here as elsewhere a range about a mile wide, 
so wind-swept by the winter blast as to be only par- 
tially timbered. His eyes naturally sought first of 
all the west, but here was only disappointment for the 
view was cut off by higher ridges, a sight that was to 
prove so discouraging to the Virginia explorers, who 
felt that there was no end to the mountains. When 
he turned away from this hopeless scene, his eyes 
ranged over the piedmont which he had crossed. 
It looked almost level and faded away into an hori- 
zon, so delusive that, on a misty morning, many a later 
visitor has claimed, as did Lederer, that he "had a 



66 Trans- Allegheny Region 

beautiful prospect of the Atlantic washing the Virgin- 
ian-shore." The doctor's first journey ended on the 
summit of the Blue Ridge. After wandering about 
in the snow for six days, vainly trying to find a pass, 
the cold proved unendurable, and he descended and 
retraced his path homeward. 

Whether Governor Berkeley dispatched Lederer 
on his first and third journeys, the latter does not ex- 
plicitly state. The second expedition, however, was 
certainly fathered by the governor; and for our 
knowledge of the first part of it, we are not dependent 
solely on Lederer, but have also a letter of the gov- 
ernor's secretary, Ludwell, to the home government, 
in which the results of the expedition are briefly re- 
ported.^'' Ludwell does not give any names, but the 
correspondence of dates and details is so close as to 
leave no doubt as to the identity of the parties. Led- 
erer was accompanied by Major Harris, the same 
who had a dozen years previously manifested a desire 
to explore the mountains," and who seems now to 
have been in command, of "twenty Christian horse 
and five Indians." 

The party set out from the falls of the James (the 
site of Richmond) on the twenty-second of May, 
1670.^^ On the third day, they passed through the 
Manakin village on the James, only twenty miles 
above the falls, and paying no attention to the advice 
of the Indians as to trails, struck out due west by 
compass. They soon found it very bad going, and 

^^ See pages 177-178. 
*^ See page 103. 

88 Lederer says May 20, but Ludwell, writing three weeks after the 
return of the main body, is more likely to be correct. 



The Discovery of the Ohio Waters 67 

wore out man and horse in trying to hold a straight 
course over the rough and rocky hills south of James 
River. After four or five days of this kind of travel 
they struck the James again, in Buckingham County, 
probably near the i\ppomattox County line.®^ 

The river here they found to run nearly due north 
and to be as wide as it is a hundred miles lower down, 
rocky, and very swift. Harris did not recognize it as 
the James. About ten miles distant beyond the river 
they made out the ragged outlines of the foothills 
that form one fragment of the broken chain which 
geologists style "the Atlantic coast range," and of 
which the well known "Monticello" is a more north- 
erly link. Their characteristic morning mists seemed 
to augur the proximity of the western waters; but 
Harris, completely discouraged by the difficulties of 
the country and considering the river impassable, 
turned homeward. After some unpleasantness, Led- 
erer claims to have produced a commission from the 
governor authorizing him to proceed by himself; and 
he struck off southward accompanied by a single Sus- 
quehannock guide.^° 

On the fifth day after he separated from Harris, he 
came to the village of the Sapony Indians, on a 
branch of the Staunton River in Campbell County, 
Virginia. Here he was hospitably received and di- 
rected on his way. Three days of easy travel carried 
him fifty miles southwest to the village of the Occa- 
neechi, then located according to his map and de- 

^^ June 3, Lederer states. 

^^ According to Lederer this was on June 5. Ludwell says that the expe- 
dition was twelve days advancing and six returning, which would make the 
date June 2. He does not mention any division of the party. 



68 Trans-Allegheny Region 

scription on an island in the Dan River. These In- 
dians, the fiercest and most treacherous of the Siouan 
tribes of the Virginia piedmont, bore out their repu- 
tation for bloodthirstiness by treacherously murder- 
ing six strange mountain Indians who had come to 
treat with them, the second night that Lederer was 
there. Frightened, he slipped away and pursued his 
course southwest. He visited successively the Eno 
Indians, the Shakori, and the Wataree, and came, on 
June 21, to the village of the Saura, then apparently 
located on a northern affluent of the Yadkin and by 
Lederer's computation seventy-four miles southwest 
of the Occaneechi village on the Dan. 

So far Lederer's narrative bears evidences of truth. 
It may be that he obtained from Virginia Indians 
some of the information regarding the country and 
natives described ; but it is, so far as it can be checked, 
correct. After he left the Saura village, no certainty 
can be evolved from the mass of palpable falsehood. 
Some names can be recognized as those of tribes 
residing in the South Carolina piedmont; but Led- 
erer could never have visited them, for his narra- 
tive is full of many fantastic tales about them and 
their country. Space does not permit the recounting 
and critical examination of the story of his expe- 
riences from this point until his arrival at the Appo- 
mattox village across from Fort Henry on the seven- 
teenth of July. It makes pleasant reading: Silver 
tomahawks, Amazonian Indian women, peacocks, 
lakes "ten leagues broad," and barren sandy deserts 
two weeks' journey in width, when located in the 
Carolina piedmont sound like the tales of Baron 
Miinchhausen. 



The Discovery of the Ohio Waters 69 

Lederer was to make yet another attempt to find a 
way across the mountain barrier, this time in com- 
pany with a certain Colonel Catlett, nine mounted 
colonists, and five Indians. They left the falls of the 
Rappahannock, near the present town of Fredericks- 
burg, on August 20, 1670, and following the north 
fork of that stream, reached the Blue Ridge on Au- 
gust 26, probably about the border line between 
Rappahannock and Fauquier Counties. Leaving 
their horses with some of the Indians, they ascended 
the ridge on foot. From the summit they beheld the 
Great North Mountain discouragingly far away 
across the Shenandoah Valley to the northwest. They 
were so tired by the climb and chilled by the change 
in temperature on the mountain top that they con- 
tented themselves with drinking the King's health in 
brandy and then made their way down the mountain 
and homeward. 

The beginning and closing pages of Talbot's book 
are filled with Lederer's notes on the geography of 
the Atlantic slope, on Indian customs, and with ad- 
vice to travelers and traders in the wilderness. The 
information seems to be remarkably correct and valu- 
able and the advice, for the time, judicious. The 
German doctor departed sometimes from the ways of 
truth, but he contributed much to the exploration of 
the piedmont and was the first white man on record 
to look into the Valley of Virginia. He gave occa- 
sion, moreover, for the production of a book of great 
historical and ethnological value. 

If Governor Berkeley was responsible for Leder- 
er's three expeditions, and he probably was, his per- 
sistency in following up the results makes him the 



70 Trans-Allegheny Region 

equal, if not the superior of the contemporary French 
governors. The plan to send out a party equipped 
to pass the river which had stopped Harris and Led- 
erer, of which mention was made in Ludwell's letter, 
may have resulted only in the last expedition of the 
German explorer; but, the next summer, other plans 
were being formulated. Lord Arlington was in- 
formed in June, that "the heats of summer are now 
too farr advanced for a journey to the Mountaines but 
after a pawse upon what is allready doun and we 
have taken breath I doubt not but that we shall goe 
further in the discovry." * The belief was to be 
justified, and Englishmen were soon to drink of the 
western waters. 

This new effort to "goe further" was made under 
the auspices of Abraham Wood. On the first of Sep- 
tember, 1 67 1, there filed out from the Appomattox 
Indian village across the river from Fort Henry a 
little party which was to make the first recorded pas- 
sage of the Appalachian mountains and thus to lay a 
foundation for England's claim to the waters that seek 
the gulf. It consisted of Captain Thomas Batts, a suc- 
cessful colonist of good English family, and tw^o other 
gentlemen, Thomas Wood, perhaps a kinsman of 
Abraham Wood, and Robert Fallam. They were ac- 
companied by a former indentured servant and Pere- 
cute, an Appomattox chief, whose faithfulness and 
iron courage should have preserved his name. Robert 
Fallam kept the journal of the expedition, a brief 
document, but containing notes of the essential facts 
from day to day, so that this is the easiest of all the 

♦ Firginia Magazine of History and Biography, vol. xx, no. i, 19. 



The Discovery of the Ohio Waters 71 

westward journeys to trace accurately. Several copies 
of the journal were made and transmitted to England 
by different persons, and what is probably the most 
accurate of them is reprinted in the fifth chapter of 
this volume. The three gentlemen bore a commission 
from Major-general Wood "for the finding out the 
ebbing and flowing of the Waters on the other side of 
the Mountains in order to the discovery of the South 
Sea." 

They struck off due west along a trail that was evi- 
dently already familiar, and having five horses made 
rapid progress. On the fourth day they reached the 
Sapony villages, one of which Lederer had visited the 
year before. They were "very joyfully and kindly 
received with firing of guns and plenty of provisions." 
They picked up a Sapony guide to show them to the 
Totero village by "a nearer way than usual," and 
were about to leave when overtaken by a reinforce- 
ment of seven Appomattox Indians sent them by 
Wood. They sent back Mr. Thomas Wood's worn 
out horse by a Portuguese servant of General Wood's 
whom they had found in the village, and pushed on 
to the Hanahaskie "town," some twenty-five miles 
west by north, on an island in the Staunton River. 
Here Mr. Thomas Wood was left, dangerously ill. 

The rest of the party kept on westward, and the 
next day about three o'clock they came in sight of the 
mountains. The country was now very hilly and 
stony. On the eighth of September they bore slight- 
ly north, over very rocky ground, crossing the Staun- 
ton River twice during the day. About one o'clock 
they passed a tree upon which had been burned the 



72 Trans- Allegheny Region 

letters M.A. NI. At four o'clock they arrived at the 
first foothill of the Blue Ridge. Pushing on over it, 
they camped that night under the main range. The 
next morning they forded Staunton River again, 
climbed one of the irregular ranges which break the 
surface of the valley, crossed "a lovely descending 
valley" about six miles in w^idth, and again dropped 
sharply into the Roanoke ^^ Valley at the Totero town, 
not far from the modern city of Roanoke. Here, 
among the Toteros, they remained for two days, for 
Perecute was very sick with fever and had an attack 
of ague every afternoon. The Indians proved to be 
very hospitable. 

On the twelfth day, the travelers left their horses at 
the village and securing a Totero guide set out on 
foot south-westwardly, up and down mountains and 
steep valleys, crossing and recrossing the Roanoke 
and its tributaries. At four o'clock Perecute was 
again seized with ague, so they camped beside the 
Roanoke, almost at its head, and beneath the main 
range of the Alleghenies. 

The trail from the Roanoke to the New could not 
have been very far from the line now followed by the 
Virginian Railway, except that on the descent it prob- 
ably bore down the divide between Lick and Crab 
Creeks. In the morning a three mile walk brought 
the travelers to the foot of the divide, and another 
three miles of steep and slippery path led them to the 
top. They sat down there very weary and gazed over 
high mountains *'as if piled one upon the other," as 

9^ The upper reaches of the Staunton — called Sapony bj' Fallam — bear 
the name "Roanoke." 



The Discovery of the Ohio Waters 73 

far as the eye could reach - "a pleasing tho' dreadful 
sight," wrote Fallam. The descent into the beautiful 
valley of the New River was easy. Three miles be- 
yond the divide they came to two trees, one branded 
M A. N I., the other cut with the letters M A and 
other marks which were undecipherable. Close by 
was a swift run, flowing northwest - the western 
waters at last. So Batts and Fallam were not the first 
white men to pass the eastern continental divide and 
drink from the waters that flow into the Ohio, that 
thirteenth day of September, 1671. They were sim- 
ply the first to leave us their story. 

The explorers marched on over rich ground, 
watered by many streams flowing into the "great 
River," through "brave meadows, with grass about 
man's hight." During the day they crossed the New 
River three times, first about three and one-half miles 
due north of the present town of Radford. The 
farther they went west the richer was the soil, and the 
more numerous the open meadows and old fields. For 
the next three days, they tramped through the valley, 
traversing a pleasant land, but were delayed and dis- 
tressed by many misfortunes. Food was exhausted by 
the fourteenth of September. The party stopped to 
hunt, but owing to the dryness of the ground the In- 
dians could kill no game, so for two days they had 
only the wayside haws to stay their stomachs. Pere- 
cute continued very ill but insisted upon further ad- 
vance. The Totero guide deserted on the fifteenth. 
On the sixteenth they managed to kill some game, but 
their Indians were restive, and having reached the 
New River again it was thought best to call a halt. 



74 Trans-Allegheny Region 

They had come to the point where the New breaks 
through Peters' Mountain, at Peters' Falls, in Giles 
County, Virginia, and on the West Virginia line. 

Early the next morning the explorers prepared to 
take possession of the country thus discovered, the 
story of which act has already been told in the open- 
ing paragraphs of this volume. Remembering the 
terms of their commission, the white men made their 
way through some tangled old fields, which the Mo- 
hetan (Cherokee) Indians had not long since culti- 
vated, down to the water side, stuck up a stick, and 
persuaded themselves that the water was ebbing, 
though not very rapidly. The Indians would not let 
them stop long; but as they were turning homeward 
they saw from a hilltop a fog and a glimmer as of 
water, and returned in the confidence that they had 
reached the tidal waters on the confines of the western 
sea. From his letter of two years later it is seen that 
Wood knew better. 

When the travelers reached the Hanahaskie vil- 
lage on the way back, they found that Mr. Thomas 
Wood had died and was buried. They made faster 
time on the return, and came into Fort Henry on 
Sunday morning, October i. "God's holy name be 
praised for our preservation," piously wrote Mr. Fal- 
1am. 

There is an account of the achievements of Batts 
and Fallam other than their journal, and much better 
known. It is found in Robert Beverley's History of 
Virginia.^' In it the genesis of the expedition is as- 
cribed to Governor Berkeley, Wood is not mentioned, 

92 Beverley, Robert. History of Virginia, 62-64. 



The Discovery of the Ohio Waters 75 

the leader is styled "Captain Henry Batt," and the 
numbers of the party given as about fourteen white 
men - all unnamed - and as many Indians. No dates, 
precise distances or details are given, and the whole 
affair is clouded in an atmosphere of vagueness. Bev- 
erley's personal opinion is that the explorers did not 
cross the mountains at all, but rather skirted them 
southward. When they were actually starving, he 
represents them as traversing a hunter's paradise of 
incredibly numerous and tame animals. Beverley's 
narrative was written more than a generation after 
the event, and was evidently based on vague tradition. 
It should be regarded as devoid of any value or au- 
thenticity whatever. 

It has, nevertheless, an importance; for historians, 
and particularly those of Virginia, have almost with- 
out exception derived from it their sole knowledge of 
the expedition, thus naturally bringing discredit on 
the whole affair. Beverley should be associated with 
Coxe as the twin perverter of the history of western 
exploration in Virginia in the seventeenth century. 
As in the case of Coxe, the later writers, whether 
credulous or contemptuous, who have copied the 
story have done their part to twist the account. Some 
have not troubled to look up even Beverley himself 
at first hand, and Batts' very name undergoes surpris- 
ing transformations.^^ 

^* Some authors who have certainly or apparently followed Beverley at 
first or second hand are : Wynne, General History of the British Empire in 
America, vol. ii, 221; Burk, History of Virginia, 149; Howison, History of 
Virginia, 383; Cooke, Virginia, 234. Batts becomes "Botts" in the State 
of the British and French Colonies, 118; "Bolton" in Adair's American In- 
dians, 308, and in Parkman, La Salle and the Discovery of the Great 
West, 5. 



76 Trans-Allegheny Region 

It should not be supposed that Abraham Wood 
was alone in his desire to obtain knowledge of the 
mountain trails and of the mysterious waterways and 
seas that lay beyond. The period was one in which 
fur-trading was politically and economically one of 
the dominant industries of the colony, and when there 
was a corresponding activity in furthering the work 
of western exploration on the part of those who held 
great financial interests in the Indian trade. The 
stake which Berkeley had in the fur business was a 
matter of common knowledge in the colony and a 
cause of his growing unpopularity with the agricul- 
tural element, and particularly with that part of it 
which had pushed out close to the fall-line frontier. 
Bacon's rebellion, the seeds of which were being 
planted in these years, was in one aspect the proto- 
type and one of the bloodiest examples of the sort of 
struggle which is going on at this moment in the 
Peace River Valley between the settlers and the Hud- 
son's Bay Company. Bacon, who lived on the 
edge of the farming frontier, complained bitterly, in 
his statement of grievances to the home government, 
of Berkeley's financial interest in the fur-trade, charg- 
ing that "these traders at the head of the rivers buy 
and sell our blood." ^* In the rebellion, to which 
Bacon has given his name, the great traders either 
clung to the government, as did Wood, or tried to 
hedge, as did William Byrd. 

Byrd was Wood's principal rival in the attempt to 
open the great western country. We learn from Fal- 
lam's journal that when his party was at the Totero 

^* Calendar of State Papers, Colonial, America and fVest Indies, 1676, 
p. 448. 



The Discovery of the Ohio Waters 77 

village, midway in the valley of Virgmia, on its 
return (September 19, 1671), Byrd with a "great 
company" had just been within three miles of the 
place on an exploring expedition.®^ We know noth- 
ing more of Byrd's activities in exploration, but after 
Wood's death he was regarded as the best informed 
man concerning western matters in the colony, and 
had sources of information sufficiently remote to hear 
as early as 1688 of the descent of the French into the 
Mississippi Valley, and to be apprehensive that it 
would result in cutting off the Virginia fur-trade.®*^ 
If Beverley is to be believed. Governor Berkeley 
was greatly aroused by the news of Batts' success and 
resolved to go exploring in person, and we are told 
that the Assembly passed an act to further the plan, 
but that it was not carried out before Bacon's Rebel- 
lion intervened.®^ Certain it is that during the win- 
ter (January 22, 1671/2), he wrote to the committee 
for trade and plantations that he would send out a 
party in February, and hoped after their return to be 
himself an eye witness to the "happy discovery to the 
West" which he had so often contemplated. There 
is nothing to inform us whether he dispatched the 
explorers ; or if so, what they accomplished ; and from 
this time the record is silent regarding the old govern- 
or's plans. Although he may have originally chosen 
Wood to carry out the plans of exploration, the next 
expeditions seem to have been undertaken by the lat- 
ter on his own initiative; yet the first may have been 

^3 See pages 192-193. 
36 Clayton's letter, post, pages 194-195. 

^"^ Beverley, Robert. History of Virginia, 63. Little or no credence is to 
be placed in this account, particularly as the act mentioned can not be found. 



yS Trans- Allegheny Region 

the one the governor expected to send out in Febru- 
ary. 

From the foregoing narrative, it is clear that by 
1 67 1 much had been done. Wood may well have 
gone in person or sent out men who passed the Blue 
Ridge before Batts and Fallam. The fact that he 
commissioned the latter simply to find out about the 
tidal waters beyond the mountains would seem to in- 
dicate that the passes were already known. The men 
who left their initials east of the Blue Ridge and 
again beyond the Alleghanies were probably not his; 
but whosever they were, their markings show that by 
1 67 1 at least three parties of white men had been far 
beyond the Blue Ridge along the New River trail, 
and two of them beyond the Allegheny divide. The 
path which Fallam followed is seen from his refer- 
ences to it to have been a plain Indian trail, doubtless 
well known to the guides. From the behavior of the 
Indians in firing salutes and the like it appears cer- 
tain that in the villages along the route, as far as that 
of the Toteros, white men were welcome and familiar 
guests. So far had the Virginians progressed on the 
way to Kentucky, a century before Daniel Boone and 
forty-five years before Spotswood's "pleasant summer 
picnicking excursion" into the Shenandoah Valley. 

The trail to the present site of Tennessee was the 
next to be traced. The information concerning the 
expeditions which ended in the opening of the trade 
with the distant Cherokee Indians has been preserved 
in a letter written by Abraham Wood to his friend, 
John Richards of London. Richards had been in 
Virginia, whence he returned to England and was 



The Discovery of the Ohio Waters 79 

employed as treasurer by the Lords Proprietors of 
Carolina, so that it was natural that the important 
letter containing an account of the explorations should 
be addressed to him."*^ This letter passed into the 
hands of the Earl of Shaftesbury, whose secretary, 
John Locke, annotated it. It is published for the first 
time in this volume. 

The heroes of this, the most truly remarkable as 
well as romantic of the English explorations of the 
seventeenth century, were James Needham, a gentle- 
man who had been a freeholder of the infant colony 
of South Carolina during the first two years of its 
settled existence, and who had possessed there a repu- 
tation for reliability and courage in wilderness 
travel, ^^ and Gabriel Arthur, an illiterate but clever 
lad who was probably an indentured servant of 
Wood. Accompanied by eight Indians they made a 
start from Fort Henry on the tenth of April, 1673. 

Wood evidently determined that lack of food 
should not be a cause of failure as in the case of Batts 
and Fallam, so he provisioned the party for three 
months. This time, however, a still more serious ob- 
stacle intervened. The Indians of the frontier and 
just beyond were frequently jealous of the white 
traders' enterprises in the hinterland, for these meant 

^^ See Calendar of State Papers, Colonial, America and West Indies, nos. 
901, 1124, 1402, 1673. 

^9 James Needham came to South Carolina on September 22, 1670. He 
was involved in a lawsuit in October, 1671. In August, 1672, he was 
despatched by the council in company with Henry Woodward, then the 
mainstay of the colony in regard to exploration and Indian relations, to 
arrest a traitor who was attempting to reach the Spaniards through the 
landward wilderness. Nothing further is known of him, and the identi- 
fication with Wood's agent is of course not proved, but extremely probable. 
South Carolina Historical Collections, vol. v, 271, 302, 345, 411. 



8o Trans-Allegheny Region 

to them the loss of profits on the trade for which they 
acted as middlemen, and the arming with European 
weapons of more numerous and possibly hostile tribes 
in their rear. Most of the Indians of the Virginia 
piedmont, however, seem to have been very friendly 
to the traders and exploring parties; but the Occa- 
neechi, though of the same eastern Siouan stock as 
the rest, formed a notable exception. Few in number 
but fierce and treacherous, they were strongly forti- 
fied on their island in the Roanoke River at the mod- 
ern Clarksville, Virginia, just below the confluence of 
the Dan and Staunton; and recruiting their numbers 
from vagabonds and fragments of various tribes, they 
exercised a great influence on the neighboring peoples 
and were a great hindrance to the white advance into 
the interior."" 

The great fur-trading highway through the Caro- 
lina piedmont crossed their island, and was named the 
Occoneechee or Trading Path. Bland and Wood had 
journeyed thus far in 1650, and in 1673 this trail was 
frequented for many miles beyond. These Indians, 
or their neighbors farther on, prevented Needham 
and Arthur from crossing the mountains on their first 
expedition. 

The persistent Wood sent them out again on the 
seventeenth of May, with a change of mounts for each 

i°o As stated above (pages 67-68), Ledeier's directions would place them 
on the Dan, about Danville; but not too great credence should be given to 
him. They were certainly in that location in 1650, however. Mooney places 
them at the confluence of the Dan and the Staunton when Lederer 
visited them. Later they certainly were there ; but were found by Lawson 
in 1701 on the Eno. See Mooney, "Siouan Tribes of the East" in Bureau 
of American Ethnology, Bulletin 22; and article "Occaneechi," Handbook 
of American Indians, Bulletin 30. 



The Discovery of the Ohio Waters 8 1 

of the white men. About the twenty-fifth of June 
they met a band of Tomahitan, who seem to be identi- 
cal with the Mohetan and the Cherokee, on their way 
from the mountains to the Occaneechi village. De- 
spite the machinations of the Occaneechi, who were 
naturally angry at the loss of their position as go-be- 
tweens in the trade, eleven of the Cherokee pushed 
through to Wood's plantation, and then overtook 
Needham with the main band on the way to the 
Cherokee country, and effected an exchange of letters. 

Nine days the party traveled southwest from the 
Occaneechi village, crossing nine eastward-flowing 
rivers and creeks, to Sitteree, the last village before 
reaching the Cherokee country, and doubtless on the 
headwaters of the Yadkin. There they left the trail 
and struck due west over the great North Carolina 
Blue Ridge. Four days of hard going, when they had 
sometimes to lead their horses, brought them to its 
narrow crest. 

This Carolina Blue Ridge, which they traversed, 
differed only in its greater magnitude and wildness 
from the Virginia portion. The gorges are here 
deeper, and their wooded sides black rather than blue, 
when seen near at hand. The rhododendrons grow 
more luxuriantly on the higher and colder summits, 
and sooner begin to replace the laurel as one ascends; 
and at from four to five thousand feet the oaks and 
chestnuts give way to stately conifers, the spruce, the 
white pine, and the balsam, which two or three hun- 
dred miles farther north are found only on the higher 
knobs and ridges or in the more inaccessible notches. 
Here, too, rock faces and crags more often break 



82 Trans-Allegheny Region 

through the forest-clad slopes; and little waterfalls, 
frequent throughout the length of the Blue Ridge, be- 
come more numerous as one goes southward. 

The descent from the summit was found to be easier 
and within half a day Needham and his party were 
crossing a level and well watered valley, bounded by 
tier after tier of noble mountain ranges. Five shallow 
rivers were crossed, all flowing northwest, and hence 
most probably the head streams of the New. By this 
time all but one of the horses had died. They held on 
due west, crossing a country abounding in game, ob- 
serving the phenomenon which gives the Great 
Smoky Mountains their name, and at the end of fif- 
teen days from Sitteree were on the banks of a west- 
ward-flowing river -the home of their Cherokee 
friends."^ 

The Cherokee village stood on a high bluff and 
was strongly fortified with a twelve foot palisade and 
parapet on the landward sides. By the waterside were 
kept a hundred and fifty large war canoes, and in the 
magazines were large stores of dried fish. White 
men and horses had apparently never before been seen 
in the town, so they were the objects of respectful but 
intense curiosity. The one surviving horse was tied 
to a stake in the center of the town ; and abundant food 
of whatever sort the Indians possessed, vegetable and 
animal, was ofi^ered it. The two white men and their 
Appomattox Indian - the single one of the eight who 
had been courageous enough to attempt the passage 

i"! After a prolonged study of all the data in Wood's letter it is impos- 
sible to fix with confidence the identity of this river. It may have been the 
Tennessee or any one of its main branches; but all in all, the French Broad 
or the Little Tennessee seem the likeliest conjecture. 



\ 



The Discovery of the Ohio Waters 83 

of the mountains - were placed on an elevated plat- 
form, that the multitude might see but not press upon 
them. 

Novel as were the English visitors, the Cherokee 
had long been acquainted with the Spaniards of 
Florida. They possessed, indeed, some sixty Spanish 
flintlock muskets, and other European implements, 
and must have traded with the Spaniards directly or 
through intermediaries for many years. This inter- 
course had recently ceased, because a party of Indians 
which had gone to Florida to trade had been half 
murdered, half enslaved. After a period of captivity 
two had succeeded in escaping, and brought word to 
the tribe of their barbarous treatment. Since then, 
the Cherokee had nursed a deadly enmity for the 
Spaniards, and on that account Needham had less 
difficulty in binding them in friendship to the Eng- 
lish. One of the two, who had been prisoners among 
the Spaniards and had learned their language, twice 
visited Wood's plantation and described the Spanish 
settlements to him in person. 

After a short rest, Needham determined to return 
to Fort Henry, in company with a dozen Cherokee, 
and to leave Arthur behind to learn the language. On 
the tenth of September he reached home, made hur- 
ried preparations for another journey, and within ten 
days had turned his face again toward the mountains. 
His intention was to make only a short visit to the 
Cherokee and bring Arthur back with him in the 
spring. Naturally Wood had been greatly elated at 
the success of the expedition and had high hopes of 
the future. He eagerly followed Needham's westward 



84 Trans-Allegheny Region 

journey, as news of his progress was brought to him, 
and heard that his agent had safely passed the Eno vil- 
lage and all seemed well. On the twenty-seventh of 
January, 1674, however, a flying report reached him 
that his men had been murdered by the Cherokee in 
their country. Then rumors of the disaster followed 
each other faster and faster, but the facts were difficult 
to learn, for the Indians were, as always, fearful of 
telling the exact truth. Wood dispatched a runner 
to make inquiries; but before his return, one Henry 
Hatcher, an independent trader, friendly to Wood 
and well acquainted with the Carolina piedmont,^"^ 
arrived and notified Wood that Needham had cer- 
tainly been killed, and identified the murderer. 

From eye-witnesses Wood later heard the story in 
all its details. With Needham was an Occaneechi, 
Indian John or HasecoU by name, a precious scoun- 
drel who had gone on the first expedition and been 
suitably rewarded, and retained by Wood to go on 
the return trip and escort the party safely past his 
dangerous friends. It was the trader Hatcher, how- 
ever, who persuaded the Occaneechi to let them pass, 
and even then several warriors accompanied the ex- 
plorer, doubtless, as Wood suggested, to see the mur- 
der. Near the mountains the treacherous protector 
became threatening; but Needham maintained a fear- 
less and defiant attitude, his only hope of safety. That 
evening at their bivouac at the ford of the Yadkin, 
the treacherous Hasecoll shot the Englishman 
through the head, before he could draw sword or the 
Cherokee spring to his rescue. Ripping open Need- 

"2 Byrd, William. Writings, 309. 



The Discovery of the Ohio Waters 85 

ham's body, he tore out the heart and held it up in his 
hand, and with face turned eastward bade defiance to 
the whole English nation. He then commanded the 
frightened Cherokee to go home and kill Arthur, 
looted the pack-train to his satisfaction, and made ofif 
with the booty loaded on Needham's horse. 

Our knowledge of the life of this discoverer of 
Tennessee, James Needham, is all too meager. What 
manner of man was this who rivalled the deeds of 
contemporary Frenchmen whose names, unlike his, 
are so well known in history? That will never be 
known. We are even ignorant of the full extent of his 
discoveries, for the journal he kept, although known 
to several in the eighteenth century, has been lost. 
All that can be done is to accept the estimate of him 
and his work by one who knew him well. James 
Needham's epitaph has been written by his friend and 
superior, Abraham Wood, in these words: 

So died this heroyick English man whose fame shall never 
die if my pen were able to eternize it which had adventured 
where never any English man had dared to atempt before and 
with him died one hundred forty-foure pounds starling of my 
adventure with him. I wish I could have saved his life with 
ten times the value. 

Two hundred and thirty-eight years have elapsed 
since these words were written, and it is to be hoped 
that at last the pen of Abraham Wood will "eternize" 
the memory of one to whom history has been so long 
unjust. 

The dazed Cherokee, after the murder of Need- 
ham, hurried home and reported what had occurred. 
The chief of the village was away so that the party 



86 Trans-Allegheny Region 

friendly to the Occaneechi was, for a moment, in the 
ascendency. They seized Gabriel Arthur, bound 
him to a stake, and heaped dry reeds about him. In 
spite of the protests of some of the Indians, it seemed 
that another life was to be sacrificed on the altar of 
exploration. At the critical moment, the chief, gun 
on shoulder, entered the village; and, hearing the 
commotion, ran to the rescue. An adopted member 
of the tribe, angered at this interference, defiantly 
grasped a torch and started to light the pyre; but the 
war chief shot him dead, cut Arthur loose with his 
own hands, and led him to his lodge. 

The chief promised Arthur to escort him home in 
the spring, but in the meantime armed him in Indian 
fashion and sent him out with a war party, doubtless 
with regard to his safety. The Cherokee, like their 
neighbors on all sides, were continually at war and 
sent out bands of warriors often hundreds of miles 
distant On such expeditions Arthur was sent and ex- 
perienced a remarkable series of adventures. Unfor- 
tunately he was unable to write and hence kept no 
journal ; his memory of elapsed time and of directions 
cannot be regarded as accurate, but the main outlines 
of his story appear trustworthy. 

He was first taken on a foray against one of the 
small Spanish mission settlements in the Apalache 
country in West Florida.^"^ The band lurked for some 
time in the vicinity of the post and of an outlying 

103 The precise location cannot be determined. Small fort-towns such as 
Arthur describes were common in the Apalache country. See McCrady, 
South Carolina under the Proprietary Government, 392-393. Needham mis- 
takenly located the Spanish settlement on the lower course of the Cherokee's 
river. Arthur stated that the war party traveled eight days west by south, 
as he guessed, and this was probably not very far wrong. 



The Discovery of the Ohio Waters 87 

slave settlement, but the strong brick walls defied at- 
tack; so after ambushing and killing a Spanish gentle- 
man and a negro and robbing the bodies, they hurried 
homeward. 

In a little while another raid was ordered, this time 
directed against an Indian village in the immediate 
vicinity of Port Royal, South Carolina. After being 
reassured that the Cherokee would do no harm to the 
English settlers, Arthur went with the party as com- 
manded. Six days brought them over the mountains 
to the head of Port Royal River. There, they made 
bark canoes and swiftly descended the stream to a 
point from which a day and night march to the south- 
east brought them upon their quarry. Creeping near 
an English house on the way, Arthur overheard an 
exclamation which told him that it was Christmas 
time. At dawn the band surprised the doomed vil- 
lage, slaughtered the inhabitants, but true to their 
word let a chance English trader go free, and in less 
than two weeks of swift marching had recrossed the 
mountains with their plunder. 

The chief now took Arthur with him on a visit to 
his friends the Moneton,^'^* ten days' journey due 
northward, on the Great Kanawha about a day's 
march from where it flows into the Ohio, and some- 
thing like a hundred miles below the point at which 
Batts and Fallam had turned back. 

On the Ohio then dwelt a very numerous Indian 
people, probably the Shawnee, enemies of the Chero- 

104 The word, according to Mooney (letter of Jan. 7, 1909), is Siouan. 
The identity of the tribe is doubtful. From location and similarity of name 
they may perhaps be simply the Mohetan of Fallam's journal, and belong to 
the Cherokee. The Mohetan told Batts and Fallam that their villages were 
about half-way between Peters' Mountain and the Ohio. 



88 Trans-Allegheny Region 

kee."^ Combining duty with pleasure, the visiting 
band went three days out of their homeward way to 
"give a clap to some of that great nation;" but this 
time they received as good as they gave. Arthur was 
wounded by two arrows, one through the thigh, over- 
taken, and captured. His long hair saved his life, 
for the Cherokee kept theirs cropped close to prevent 
an enemy from laying hold of it. When his captors 
had scrubbed his skin with water and ashes and found 
him white, they gave him back his weapons and made 
much of him. The Shawnee were at this time en- 
tirely unacquainted with firearms, had no iron weap- 
ons or utensils of any sort among them, and had not 
been even remotely touched by the fur-trade. Arthur 
saw them singeing a beaver preparatory to cooking it, 
and attempted in sign language to tell them of the 
possibility of exchanging pelts in Virginia for knives 
like his, and promised to come again to them with 
articles of trade, at which they were greatly pleased. 
They finally gave him provisions and started him on 
his way to the Cherokee. 

After his return, the Cherokee took him on one 
more expedition, a short hunting trip down their 
river; and then, about the tenth of May, 1674, the 
chief with eighteen of his people laden with furs, 
started to escort the young man to Fort Henry. At 
the Saura village four Occaneechi were waiting to 
waylay Arthur. Being so few, the Cherokee fled, all 
deserting their white companion except the former 
captive among the Spaniards. The young man es- 
caped his would-be slayers, however, and after many 

"5 The reports of this tribe given by the Mohetan to Batts and Fallam 
correspond with those given to Arthur by the Moneton. 



The Discovery of the Ohio Waters 89 

adventures, traversing by night the Occaneechi terri- 
tory and their very island, and living on huckleber- 
ries, he came safely into Fort Henry with his com- 
panion, on the eighteenth of June, 1674. 

Meantime the Cherokee chief, with three of his 
men, came around by the mountains through the To- 
tero village to the upper course of the James, where 
they made a bark canoe, descended the river to the 
Manakin town and thence came across to Fort Henry, 
on the twentieth of July. Arthur and the "king" 
were much rejoiced to see each other, and Wood en- 
tertained the chief for some days in proper style, and 
rewarded him well for saving Arthur's life. The 
Cherokee promised to return in the fall with a more 
courageous band; and his host entertained no doubts 
that he would do so, if not intercepted by rival 
traders. 

In his letter to Richards, Wood wrote that his ven- 
tures received no encouragement in Virginia, but 
rather the reverse; that after Needham's return he 
had placed the situation before the Assembly, but did 
not even receive a reply; and that at all stages, his 
explorations were blocked or hampered in every pos- 
sible way by his enemies. He appealed to his corre- 
spondent, therefore, to secure patronage for him in 
England, 

At this point the known contemporary records of 
the efiforts of Wood and the other men of his time to 
explore the western country come to an end. The par- 
ticular impetus to such achievements lost itself in the 
forces that broke out in Bacon's Rebellion, which in- 
volved Virginia in a turmoil lasting several years. In 
England also the persons who had inspired the ad- 



90 Trans- Allegheny Region 

venture found other objects to occupy their attention. 
Thus Lord Shaftesbury, who seems to have been the 
principal promoter, lost his influence at court and was 
forced into exile; and the remembrance of his pur- 
poses passed away with his political death. 

Any attempt to summarize the results and signifi- 
cance of this quarter century of endeavor must be 
guarded and somewhat tentative, for a new phase of 
the history of English advance is here treated and 
there is lacking the guidance of long discussion and 
criticism by the historical fraternity. 

In the first place, the collected records show that 
by 1674 a distinct class of frontiersmen were already 
formed in Virginia. They were of English stock, 
some of excellent antecedents, many former in- 
dentured servants. The leaders and large traders, 
like Bland, Wood, Batts, Fallam, and Needham 
were well educated and kept careful journals when 
exploring. Others were ignorant, even illiterate, and 
thus the stories of many of the pathfinders of the Ap- 
palachian wilderness are forever lost to us."* 

Yet they were as a class intelligent, courageous, and 
surprisingly adaptable and resourceful, even when 
illiterate. Three classes may be distinguished, though 
individuals passed through all three: first, the great 
traders like Wood, Cadwallader Jones, and the 
Byrds, dwelling in state better than any Canadian 
seigneur in their plantation posts at the fall line; 
second, the substantial free traders like Henry 
Hatcher;'" third, the indentured servants and the 

^08 Compare Lawson, History of Carolina, "Preface." 
^"■'^ Byrd, William. Writings, 234-235. 



The Discovery of the Ohio Waters 91 

employees of the great traders, of whom several are 
mentioned in each of the long narratives. 

The Virginia frontiersmen are seen as familiar 
visitors in all the Indian villages in the Virginia and 
Carolina piedmont. Before the end of the seventeenth 
century, some of them had settled among the Indians, 
sometimes even beyond the mountains, perhaps mar- 
rying Indian v^ives.^"^ The trail through to the New 
River was evidently used by the fur-traders, and they 
kept on to the Ohio at an early date, for in 1700 the 
French commandant at Detroit stated that for some 
years the English had been quietly coming to the 
Beautiful River (Ohio) with their packs; and he in- 
structed his Indians to proceed thither, cut them ofif, 
and pillage their goods. ^''^ In the eighteenth cen- 
tury, when the settlers poured into the New River 
Valley, there remained a remembrance of the path- 
finder in that region, for the stream itself was known 
as Wood's River,"" a fact which proves a continuous 
intercourse between the region and Virginia, for 
otherwise the name would soon have been forgotten. 

The results of the southwestern explorations by 
Needham and Arthur were still more important. It 
is true that the pathless route across the mountains 

108 poj. instance, Stewart, whom Lawson found long established in the 
upper Yadkin Valley in 1700 [Lawson, History of Carolina, 96], or Doherty, 
who settled among the Cherokee in 1690. Logan, History of South Carolina, 
vol. i, 168; Ramsey, Annals of Tennessee, 63. 

109 jV^w York Colonial Documents, vol. ix, 706. 

"^^^ Journal of Dr. Thomas Walker, Filson Club Publications, vol. xiii, 
36; Christopher Gist's Journals, 65, 254 (last in journal of John Peter Salley, 
1742) ; in early land grants, circa 1745, in West Virginia Historical Maga- 
zine, Apr., 1901, p. 6; in report of way viewers Patton and Buchanon, 1745, 
in Scott, History of Orange County, Virginia, 31; Jefferson and Frye, Map 
of Virginia, 1751; Mitchell, Map of the British Colonies, 1755. 



92 Trans- Allegheny Region 

which they followed was probably not used by later 
travelers, who kept on around the southern end of the 
Appalachians; but Needham opened the Cherokee 
trade to the Virginians, and allied that great tribe to 
the English interest, a service of no small value in the 
westward progress of the English-speaking people. 
The traders from Virginia reaped the profits of the 
fur-trade in that locality for years, before the Caro- 
lina colonists reached the mountains. When, a little 
before 1700, the latter began to divide the trade, Eng- 
lish influence expanded rapidly, and in 1700 the 
French found Carolina traders on the Mississippi.'" 
The influence of the English among the powerful 
tribes of the southwest during the first third of the 
eighteenth century, and its effect on the attempts of 
the French to colonize and control the lower Missis- 
sippi Valley are too well known to need more than 
mention. 

The movement which has been discussed, when 
viewed in the broadest way, is simply a part of the 
westward thrust of the English population, proceed- 
ing from the oldest and most populous of their colo- 
nies. Looking at it from the point of view of the 
men of that time, the reason which produced this 
great movement, was simply an effort to grasp one 
of the two principal business opportunities then open 
to the Virginia colonists: one of these was tobacco 
growing; the other, the exploitation of the hinter- 
land. 

Of the economic opportunities offered by the West 
the most important at this early date was the Indian 

^^^ Jesuit Relations, vol. Ixv, 115, 206; Charlevoix, P. F. X. de. History 
of Nenu France, vol. v, 124. 



The Discovery of the Ohio Waters 93 

trade. An examination of the documents here col- 
lected shows that without exception every exploring 
expedition or project concerning which there exists 
any considerable information was in some degree in- 
spired by the wish to share in the profits of the lucra- 
tive fur-trade. The large financial returns which it 
afforded, especially when carried on in virgin terri- 
tory and among tribes still naive in their valuations, 
need not be enlarged upon. These early adventures 
secured for the Virginians the trade of the southern 
piedmont and Appalachians, and a share of that of 
the Ohio and Mississippi Valleys. 

The search for mines was the economic motive next 
perhaps in importance. Nothing of mineral value 
was found by them, but from the very earliest men- 
tion of a desire to explore the mountains throughout 
the period under consideration, the prospect of find- 
ing mineral wealth is brought forward and reiterated 
as a leading reason for explorations. Visions of gold, 
silver, copper, and other mineral riches lured the 
imaginations of the Virginians even after a century 
of disappointment, and William Byrd, on his journey 
to "Eden," found people on the Roanoke and Dan 
Rivers fairly crazy on the mine question - and shared 
the dementia himself."^ 

A surer basis for gain in the development of the 
new regions lay in the soil itself. Bland, Lederer, 
and Fallam noted the character of the soil and prod- 
ucts and indications as to climate in the country 
which they traversed. Other explorers from whom 
there are less detailed accounts were doubtless equally 

"2 Byrd, William. fVritings, 283, 284-285, 286, 288-289, 291, 304, 306- 
307, 309, Z2i. 



94 Trans-Allegheny Region 

interested. The peculiar situation in Virginia lies in 
the fact that all the leading fur-traders were planters 
as well, and naturally turned to the soil. While the 
other planters were decrying the traders, the latter 
were themselves considering the settlement of the new 
and pleasant lands with which their men had famil- 
iarized them. The right to first choice of lands was 
one of the benefits always conferred in the concessions 
by the Assembly to explorers. By 1674 the piedmont 
had become sufficiently known to be ready for the 
agricultural settler. Plans for extensive colonization 
beyond the fall line began with Bland and grew more 
and more numerous toward the end of the century. 
The process of the engrossment of land in western Vir- 
ginia was pushed so rapidly and successfully, that the 
land speculators could seize the opportunity offered 
by the crowds of Scotch-Irish and Germans landing 
in America in the eighteenth century, to turn the 
stream of immigration towards the great valley. It 
was from the successors of Bland, Byrd, and Wood 
that the new-comers bought their farms. ''^ 

In this analysis, the purpose which is most persist- 
ently put forward by the explorers themselves should 
not be omitted, even though it was unattainable. In 
French Canada and in the English colonies, the hope 
of discovering a water communication across the con- 
tinent persisted for generations, and explorers went in 
every direction and underwent countless hardships 
and dangers in the pursuit of this will-o'-the-wisp. 
The motive cannot, therefore, be passed over in si- 
lence, for, although there was no possibility of finding 

113 Turner, "The Old West," Wisconsin Historical Society Proceedings, 
1908, pp. 198-207, and citations therein given. 



The Discovery of the Ohio Waters 95 

such a water course, still the search for it was of un- 
told value in increasing the knowledge of the world. 
The grandeur of the enterprise has without doubt ap- 
pealed to men and governments which might not have 
been moved to action by the hope of the more solid 
benefits of the fur-trade. 

The motives behind these explorations were almost 
purely economic. Political designs scarcely entered - 
though they are occasionally mentioned - because the 
rivalry with Spain had now practically ceased and 
that with France was just beginning. Mere love of 
adventure doubtless helped in securing such men as 
Needham for the field force, and it may be supposed, 
helped to tinge the undertaking with pleasure for the 
rest, as it would for any group of men of action. 

In their manifest attention to the overshadowing 
strength of the agricultural settlements made by the 
English, political historians have somewhat over- 
looked or done injustice to a movement, the fuller 
knowledge of which must revise our statement of the 
bases of the French and English claims to the Missis- 
sippi and Ohio Valleys. Economic historians of Vir- 
ginia, intent upon the plantation system and labor 
matters, tend also to neglect this important factor in 
the economic development of the colony. The truth 
is that upon the agricultural base of the English settle- 
ments was imposed an English counterpart of New 
France, with all the throbbing and varied life of its 
rival. 

Although historians have so completely ignored 
the achievements of these Virginians that their names 
are almost unknown and the explorations of James 
Needham are now for the first time given a place in 



96 Trans- Allegheny Region 

history, yet the British public of the eighteenth cen- 
tury still retained the remembrance of their deeds. 
When the question of the right to the Ohio Valley 
came to an issue between France and England, each 
country sought for proofs of her right by priority of 
discovery. France could find nothing among the 
papers of her great explorer. La Salle; but England 
possessed the proof of the exploration of Batts and 
Fallam, and her people had long become familiar 
with the region through their numerous successors. 
What Englishmen had so long possessed could not be 
lightly abandoned. 

The final decision concerning the dominion over 
the region was not reached by the muster of legal 
proof; that was an issue to be decided by war alone; 
and even today, the historian, considering the uncer- 
tainty and complexity of the question of dominion 
based on priority of discovery, must hesitate to pro- 
nounce judgment. The British title to the Ohio Val- 
ley seems as equitable as that of the French to the 
Mississippi, for her hardy adventurers had equalled 
the deeds of the French, if difficulty alone is consid- 
ered, and had placed the insignia of their king upon 
the banks of the New River. Almost contempo- 
raneously both nations staked their claim in the wil- 
derness, the right to which was not to be determined 
until after the lapse of nearly one hundred years ; and 
France, in disputing the justice of the English claim 
to the Ohio Valley, cast into the scales of war all her 
possessions in America. 

The names of Wood, Batts, Fallam, and Needham 
have not been honored by history as have those of 



I 

Encouragement from the Assembly 

Act of the Assembly, March, 1642/3 
Order of the Assembly, November, 1652 
Order of the Assembly, July, 1653 
Order of the Assembly [1658?] 
Order of the Assembly, March, 1 659/60 



Encouragement from the Assembly 

Act of Assembly, March, 1642/3 "* 

For as much as Walter Austin, Rice Hoe,"^ Joseph 
Johnson and Walter Chiles for themselves and such 
others as they shall think fitt to joyn with them, did 
petition in the Assembly in June 1641 for leave and 
encouragement to undertake the discovery of a new 
river or unknowne land bearing west southerly from 
Appomattake river. Be it enacted and confirmed^ that 
they and every of them and whome they admitt 
shall enjoy and possess to them their heires, executors 
or administrators or assigns all profitt whatsoever 
they in their particular adventure can make unto 
themselves by such discovery aforesaid, for fourteen 
years after the date of the said month January i64i> 

11* Printed from Hening, Statutes at Large, vol. i, 262. An act practically 
identical with this is printed in the Virginia Magazine of History and Bio- 
graphy, vol. ix, 55. It is drawn from a contemporary manuscript in the 
possession of the Virginia Historical Society, and probably came originally 
from an order book of Charles City County. The confusion of dates is 
probably due to two mistakes: the misreading of "Jan." as "June" where it 
first occurs, and the assignment by the other transcriber of the date of the 
petition to the act. 

All the petitioners save Rice Hooe were burgesses for Charles City 
County in 1641. Virginia Magazine, vol. ix, 51. 

1^5 Rice Hooe was born about 1599, and came to Virginia in 1635; was 
burgess for Shirley Hundred Island in 1642, and for Charles City County in 
1644, 1645, and 1646. Beginning in 1637, several large land patents in his 
favor are preserved. For full sketch of his life, see Virginia Magazine of 
History and Biography, vol. iv, 427. For the family pedigree see Hayden, 
Virginia Genealogies. 



I02 Trans-Allegheny Region 

Provided there be reserved and paid unto his 
majesty's use b}^ them that shall be appointed to re- 
ceive the same, the fifth part Royall Mines whatso- 
ever, Provided also, that if they shall think fitt to 
employ more than two or three men in the said dis- 
covery that they shall then do it by commission from 
the Governour and Counsell. 

Order of Assembly, November, l6^2 "® 

Whereas an act was made in the Assembly, 1642, 
For Encouragement of discoveries to the westward 
and southward of this country, granting them all 
profitts arising thereby for fourteen years, which act 
is since discontinued and made void; It is by this As- 
sembly ordered. That Coll. Wm. Clayborne, Esq.''^ 
and Capt. Henry Fleet, they and their associats with 
them either joyntly or severally. May discover and 
shall enjoy such benefitts, profitts, and trades, for 
fourteen years as they shall find out in places where 
no English ever have bin and discovered, nor have 
had perticular trade, and to take up such lands by pat- 
tents proveing their rights as they shall think good: 
Neverthelesse not excluding others after their choice 
from takeingup lands, and planting in these new dis- 
covered places, as in Virginia is now used. 

The like order is granted to Major Abra. Wood 
and his associates. 

11*' Printed from Hening, Statutes at Large, vol. i, 376. Original source 
the Randolph Mss. 

117 William Clayborne is the well-known parliamentary commissioner 
and disturber of the province of Maryland. Consult index of any extended 
work on Virginia history. 



Encouragement from the Assembly 103 

Order of Assembly, July, l6S3 ''' 

Whereas diverse gentlemen have a voluntarie de- 
sire to discover the Mountains and supplicated for 
lycence to this Assembly, It is ordered by this As- 
sembly, That order be granted unto any for soe doing. 
Provided they go With a considerable partie and 
strength both of men and amunition. 

Order of Assembly ll658?Y"' 

Whereas Major William Lewis preferred a peti- 
tion to the house therein requesting that a Comission 
might be granted unto them, Mr. Anthony Langston 
and Major William Harris,'"" to discover the Moun- 
taines and Westward parts of the Country and to en- 
deavour the finding out of any Commodities that 
might probably tend to the benefitt of this Country. 

"It is ordered for encouragement to them and 
others that shall be of the like publique and Generous 
Spiritts that a Comission shall be granted them to au- 
thorize their Undertakings and all such Gentlemen 
as shall voluntarily accompany them in the said dis- 



coverie." 



lis Printed from Hening, Statutes at Large, vol. i, 381. Randolph Mss. 

119 Printed from the Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, vol. 
viii, 391. Contained in the Randolph Mss. but not printed by Hening. The 
date is not stated, but from the location in the volume appears to be 1658. 

120 Major William Harris is the same who accompanied Lederer on his 
second expedition. He received his rank in December, 1656, was Abraham 
Wood's subordinate in the Charles City County regiment, and is again men- 
tioned in the militia records of that county, July 2, i66i. Hening, Statutes at 
Large, vol. i, 426; William and Mary Quarterly, vol. iv, 167-168. 



I04 Trans-Allegheny Region 

Order of Assembly, March, lOSQ/Oo '" 

Whereas it hath been formerly granted by act of 
Assemblie in one thousand, six hundred and fourty 
and one, And by order of Assembly in one thousand, 
six hundred, fifty and two, for encouragement of dis- 
coverers to the westward and southward of this coun- 
trey, granting all profitts ariseing thereby for fourteen 
yeeres. It is by this Assembly ordered^ That Mr. Fran- 
cis Hamond and his associates either joyntly or sever- 
ally may discover. And shall enjoy such benefitts, pro- 
fitts and trades for fourteen yeeres as he or they have 
found or shall find out in places where no English 
ever have been or discovered or have had perticular 
trade. And to take up such lands by pattents (proving 
their rights) as they shall think good, not excluding 
others after their choice (from takeing up lands and 
planting in those now new discovered places as in Vir- 
ginia now is used) But wholly from the trade during 
the said fourteen yeeres, that being wholly appro- 
priated to the said Francis Hamond and his associates. 



121 Printed from Hening, Statutes at Large, vol. i, 548. 



THE 

DISCOVERY 

OF 

New Brittaine. 

CEdivard Blan^^i bAcrchint, .-^ 

■B ^e/^&/'d/'<«>» />'Wpj Cap wine. ^ 

From Fort Menrji, at the hti^oiAppa" 
mattuc^ Kiver in Virginia, to the Fals 
cf^landwafivfk River in P^l» Briu 
t/if,e y which runneth Weft j being 
120. Mile South'Weft , between ^5. 
& ^7 degrees,Capleafant Country,^ 
oftcmperate Ayre, and fertile Soylc. 



L q J^ X> O Ny 

Printed by Thmm Harper for John Ste^henfon , at the 
Sun below Ludgatc, (^,1>c*l0l. 



■MiitaiMi 



lA 



Facsimile of original title-page of "The Discovery 
OF New Brittaine" 



II 

The Discovery of New Brittaine 

Edward Bland's The Discovery of New Brittaine ^^^ 



122 Printed from a transcript made in Washington of a "first edition" in 
the Congressional Library. It has been reprinted by Sabin, N.Y., 1873. The 
reprint omits the dedication to Sir John Danvers. It has been recently re- 
printed in Salley, Narratives of Early Carolina, 5 et seq. 



To THE 

Honorable, 
Sir 
John Danvers, 
Knight: 
Great Favourer of the Westerne Planta- 
tions, and a Member of the Par- 
liament of England. 
Noble Sir : The great Incouragement that I have 
found from your Worthy selfe to propogate the Pub- 
lique Affaires, as well Forraigne as Domestique, hath 
imbolned mee to presume humbly to present this small 
Piece of the Discovery of the Westerne Part of Vir- 
ginia, wherein you shall find by the Industry of the 
Surveyors of that Part, the great Benefit that may ac- 
crew to the English Plantation; in regard of the 
many and severall Commodities that may thence 
arise, by reason of the fertility of the Soyle, Nature 
having provided so plentifully for all things, that 
with no extraordinary great Charge it may be affect- 
ed, to the great Profit, and more Glory of this Eng- 
lish Nation: And whereas your selfe hath beene, 
and still are a Chiefe Agent in that, and other Planta- 
tions, so (under God) you may be a meanes for con- 
verting divers of those poor Indians to the Christian 
Faith. For the World doth take notice you observe 
the Orators saying; That you were not borne for your 
selfe, but for your Country: Which that you may 



no Trans- Allegheny Region 

ever doe, shall be the Prayer, Sir, Of your most 
humble servant, J. S. 

To THE Reader: Who ever thou art that desirest 
the Advancement of God's glory by conversion of the 
Indians, the Augmentation of the English Common- 
wealth, in extending its liberties; I would advise thee 
to consider the present benefit and future profits that 
will arise in the wel setling Virginia's Confines, es- 
pecially that happy Country of New Brittaine, in the 
Latitude of thirty-five and thirty-seven degrees, of 
more temperate Clymate than that the English now 
inhabite, abounding with great Rivers of long extent, 
and encompassing a great part, or most of Virginia's 
Continent; a place so easie to be settled in, in regard 
that Horse and Cattle in foure or five dayes may be 
conveyed for the Benefit of Undertakers, and all in- 
conveniencies avoyded which commonly attend New 
Plantations, being supplied with necessaries from the 
Neighbourhood of Virginia. 

That the Assembly of Virginia (as may be scene 
by their Order since my returne heereto procured) 
have conceived a hundred to be a sufficient force and 
competence for the establishment of that Country in 
which Tobacco will grow larger and more in quan- 
tity. Sugar Canes are supposed naturally to be there, 
or at least if implanted will undoubtedly flourish: 
For we brought with us thence extraordinary Canes 
of twenty-five foot long and six inches round; there is 
also great store of fish, and the Inhabitants relate that 
there is plenty of Salt made to the sunne without art; 
Tobacco Pipes have beene scene among these Indians 



Discovery of New Brittaine in 

tipt with Silver, and they weare Copper Plates about 
their necks: They have two Crops of Indian Corne 
yearely, whereas Virginia hath but one. What I write, 
is what I have proved; I cordially wish some more 
then private Spirits would take it into their con- 
sideration, so may it prove most advantagious to par- 
ticular and publick ends; for which so prayeth. Your 
faithfull servant, EDWARD BLAND.'"' 



^23 Edward Bland was an English merchant who had been engaged in 
the Spanish trade. He came to Virginia in 1643, and resided at Kimages, 
his estate of eight thousand acres, in Charles City County. There he died 
and was buried in 1653. Bland Papers, vol. i, 147; genealogy, ibid., vol. i, 
145-149. Harleian Society Publications, vol. xxxviii; Familiae Minorum 
Gentium, vol. ii, 421, et seg., gives in full the genealogy of the English and 
Virginia Blands. Ibid., 423, notice of Edward Bland. 



October 20, l6S0. By the Assembly 

It is Ordered by the Grand Assembly, that accord- 
ing to the Petition of Mr. Edward Bland, Merchant, 
that he the sayd Bland, or any other be permitted to 
discover and seate to the Southward in any conven- 
ient place where they discover; and that according 
to his Petition for furthering his Designes hee bee 
permitted to have correspondence with the Indians, 
and also receive the benevolence of the well-afifected, 
and use all lawfull meanes for effecting thereof, pro- 
vided that they secure themselves in effecting the sayd 
Designe with a hundred able men sufficiently fur- 
nished with Armes and Munition. 

John Corkes, Cler. Dom. Com. 

Sir Walter Raivleigh's Observation on thirty-five 
degrees Latitude. 

Paradise was created a part of this Earth, and 
seated in the lower part of Eden or Mesopotamia, 
containing also a part of Shinar and Armenia; it 
stands thirty-five degrees from the Equinoctiall, and 
fifty-five from the North-pole, in a temperate Cli- 
mate, full of excellent fruits, chiefely of Palme-trees 
without labour; for whereinsoever the Earth, Na- 
ture, and the Sun can most vaunt that they have 
excelled, yet shall the Palme-tree be the greatest won- 
der of all their workes: This tree alone giveth unto 



Discovery of New Brittaine 113 

man whatsoever his life beggeth at Nature's hand. 
The like are also found both in the East and West- 
Indies as well as in Paradise, which countries are also 
blessed with a perpetuall Spring and Summer, etc. 
Rawleigh's Marrow of History, Page 42. 

By how much Adam exceeded all living men in 
perfection, by being the immediate workmanship of 
God, by so much did that chosen, and particular Gar- 
den exceed all the parts of the Universall World in 
which God had planted the Trees of Life, and knowl- 
edge, Plants onely proper, and belonging to the Para- 
dise, and Garden, of so great a Lord. Ibid., page 43. 



The Discovery of New Britaine 

August 2 J, 1650. The Right Honorable Sir W. 
Berkly, Kt. being Governour and Captaine Generall 
of Virginia, Edw. Bland Merch. Abraham Wood, 
Capt. Elias Ponnant and Sackford Brewster, Gent.,^"* 
foure Men, and one Indian named Pyancha, an Ap- 
pamattuck ^^' for our Guide, with two servants, foure 
Horses and Provision, advanced from Fort Henry, 
lying on Appamattuck River at the fals, being a 
branch of James River, intending a South westerne 
Discovery. 

This day wee passed over a branch belonging to 
Blackwater lake, running South east into Chawan 
River; at that place wee were forced to unlade our 
Carriages by reason of the great raines lately fallen, 
which otherwise is very passable for foot, being firm 
gravelly ground in the bottome, and lieth from Fort 
Henry twenty miles, and some twelve miles from this 
place we travelled unto a deepe River called the Not- 

124 'phg Brewsters were a Suffolk family, gentry of consideration for a 
long period. See Augustine Page, History of Suffolk, 283. Sackford 
Brewster of Sackford Hall, Suffolk, lived in Surry County, Virginia, and 
married there. William and Mary Quarterly, vol. iv, passim ; consult 
index. 

^25 For all the Indian tribes mentioned in this volume, consult the Hand- 
book of American Indians, Bulletin 30, Bureau of American Ethnologj'. 
Where no article is found entered under the name given in the present 
volume, turn to the sj-nonvmy at the end of Part il of the Handbook. A very 
few names, occurring in rare or hitherto unpublished narratives, will not be 
found. 



Discovery of New Brittaine 115 

taway Creeke some one hundred paces over sandy 
bottomes (and with a little labour may be made passe- 
able) unto a Nottaway Town lying some two miles 
from the River. Hither we came within night, and 
by reason of our suddaine approach and hallowing 
of Robert Farmer, servant to Mr. Bland, the Inhabi- 
tants ran all away into the Woods, with their Women 
and Children; therefore by us it was named Farmers 
Chase. After our arrivall there within a small space 
of time one Indian man appeared, and finding of us 
peaceable, and the white flag bore before us by our 
Guide whom they knew, he made a hallow and the 
rest came in from their sculking holes like so many 
timerous Hares, and shewed us what curtesie they 
could. About two houres after came to us Oyeocker 
elder brother to Chounterounte one of the Nottaway 
Kings, who told us that his brother Chounterounte, 
and other of the Nottaway Kings would come to us 
next day by Noone, and that the day before Choun- 
terounte and all his men had been a hunting, and it 
hapned that Chounterounte had shot one of his broth- 
ers in the leg, and that thereupon he was gone downe- 
wards. We stayed untill next day at Noone but he 
came not, and then we journyed unto the Towne be- 
longing unto Oyeocker, who kindly invited us thither, 
and told us he thought that Chounterounte would 
meet us there, and also of his owne accord proffered 
us to be our guide whithersoever we went. The Land 
generally to this Towne is Champion, very rich, and 
the Towne scituate in a rich levell, well timbered, 
watered, and very convenient for Hogs and Cattle. 
August 28. We journied with our new entertain- 



ii6 Trans- Allegheny Region 

ed Guide Oyeocker, lying betweene South, and South 
and by West, from the first Towne upon a very rich 
levell of Land : sixteen miles from this place we came 
unto the River Penna Mount, being another branch 
of Chawan River, eight miles on the South side it 
hath very rich Land and Corn-fields on both sides the 
River, and is about some two hundred paces wide, and 
runs out with elbowes: at the place of our passage 
over this River to this second Towne is shallow upon 
a Sandy Point, and with a very little labour may be 
made passeable both for foot and horse, or any Car- 
riage by Land, or pentater with small Boats, and some 
two miles higher there is a sound passage no deeper 
then a mans anckle. Within night came Chounter- 
ounte unto our Quarters frowning, and with a coun- 
tenance noting much discontent, downe he sets, and 
lookes about him, salutes the English with a scorne- 
full posture, and then our Appamattack Guide, and 
tels him, I am sorry for thee friend, thou wilt be 
knockt on the head; after this some pause was made 
before any discourse, expecting the English would 
begin, but finding us slow, he thus spake: There 
was a Wainoake Indian told him that there was an 
Englishman, a Cockarous^^" hard by Captaine Floods, 
gave this Indian Bells, and other petty truck to lay 
downe to the Tuskarood ^" King, and would have 
hired him to have gone with him, but the Wainoakes 
being doubtfull what to doe, went to Captaine Flood 
for advice, who advised them not to go, for that the 
Governour would give no licence to go thither; heere 
upon Chounterounte was by us questioned, when and 

126 A brave fellow. Beverley, History of Virginia, 131. 

127 Tuscaxora. 



Discovery of New Brittaine 117 

who it was that had told him so, and if he did know 
that Wainoake Indian, to which he answered doubt- 
fully, and demanded of us whither we did intend to 
go; we told him the Tuskarood King had envited us 
to trade, and our Governour had ordered us to go, 
and speake with an Englishman amongst them, and 
to enquire for an English woman cast away long 
since, and was amongst those Nations. Chounterounte 
perswaded us to go no further, alleadging there was 
no English there, that the way was long, for passage 
very bad by reason of much raine that had lately 
fallen, and many rotten Marrishes and Swampps there 
was to passe over, in fine we found him, and all his 
men very unwilling we should go any further; but 
we told them, that let the waies and passages be never 
so bad, we were resolved to go through, and that we 
were not afraid of him nor his Nation, nor any other, 
for we intended no injury, and that we must go, for 
we were commanded by our King; these words 
caused Chounterounte to assimulate a feare in his 
countenance, and after delivery of himselfe, at our 
going away next day, when we had mounted our 
Horses, Chounterounte came privately unto us, and 
in a most serious manner intimating unto us, that he 
loved us, and our Nation, and that he lively appre- 
hended our danger, and that our safety concerned 
him, for if any accident hapned otherwise then good 
to us, he should be suspected to have a hand in it, and 
withal wished us to go no further, for that he certain- 
ly knew that the Nations we were to go through 
would make us away by treachery; we answered him, 
that we were not afraid to be killed, for that any one 
of us were able to deale with forty through the pro- 



ii8 Trans-Allegheny Region 

tection of our great God, for we were commanded by 
our King. 

August 2Q. We travelled from this second Town 
to Maharineck/^^ eight miles upon barren Champion 
Lands, and six miles further is a branch that runnes 
South west, with rich Lands upon it; and from thence 
some six miles further, is a Brooke some hundred 
paces over, and runnes South and a little to the West, 
on both sides of the Creek: for fowre miles or there- 
abouts is very rich Lands, well Timbered and 
Watered, and large dry Meadowes, South and by 
West: From this Creeke is another, some eight 
miles off, that opens it selfe into divers small 
Guts, made by the inundation of Freshes of 
Waters; and the passage lies some two hundred paces 
from the Path, and this Creek is some ten miles from 
Maharinecke Towne, and was by us named New- 
combs Forrest. It was night when we entred into 
Maharineck, where we found a House ready made 
for us of Matts; and Corne stalkes layd in severall 
places for our Horses, the Inhabitants standing, ac- 
cording to their custome, to greet us: and after some 
discourse with their Werrowance, a Youth, to whom 
wee presented severall gifts, we certified them the 
cause of our comming was to Trade in way of friend- 
ship, and desired the great men that what Wares or 
Skins the Town did afford, might be brought to our 
Quarters next morning; and also a measure for Ro- 
anoak, which they promised should be done, and so 
left us to our selves a while, untill wee had refreshed 
our selves with such provisions as they had set before 
us, in most plentifull maner; and afterwards the great 

128 Meherrin. 



Discovery of New Brittaine 119 

men and Inhabitants came, and performed divers 
Ceremonies, and Dancings before us, as they use to 
doe to their great Emperour Apachancano, when they 
entertain him in most solemne maner and friendship. 

August JO. Being wearied with our last dayes 
travell, we continued at Maharineck, and this day 
spake with a Tuskarood Indian, who told us that the 
Englishman was a great way off at the further Tuska- 
rood Towne, and wee hired this Turkarood Indian to 
run before, and tell his Werrowance wee intended to 
lay him downe a present at Hocomowananck, and de- 
sired to have him meete us there, and also wrote to 
that effect to the Englishman in English, Latine, 
Spanish, French and Dutch, the Tuskarood prom- 
ised in three dayes to meete us at Hocomawananck. 
In the afternoon came two Indians to our Quarters, 
one of whom the Maharinecks told us was the Wer- 
rowance of Hocomawananck River, seemed very joy- 
full that wee could goe thither, and told us the Tusk- 
arood would have come to us to trade, but that the 
Wainoakes had spoken much to dishearten them from 
having any trade with the English, and that they in- 
tended divers times to have come in, but were afraid, 
for the Wainoakes had told them that the English 
would kill them, or detaine them, and would not let 
them goe without a great heape of Roanoake middle 
high, to which we answered that the Wainoakes durst 
not affirme any such thing to our faces, and that they 
had likewise spoken much against the Tuskarood to 
the English, it being a common thing amongst them 
to villefie one another, and tell nothing but lies to the 
English. 

This day in the morning the Maharineck great men 



I20 Trans- Allegheny Region 

spake to heare some of our guns go off. Whereupon 
we shot two guns at a small marke, both hitting it, 
and at so great a distance of a hundred paces, or more, 
that the Indians admired at it. And a little before 
night the old King Maharineck came to us, and told 
us, that the people in the Towne were afraid when 
the guns went off, and ran all away into the Woods. 
This night also we had much Dancing. 

August JI. Wee went away from Maharineck 
South East two miles to go over Maharineck River, 
which hath a bottome betweene two high land sides 
through which you must passe to get over, which 
River is about two hundred paces broad, and hath a 
high water marke after a fresh of at least twenty foot 
perpendicular by the trees in the breaches betweene 
the River, and the high land of the old fields. This 
River is the southerly last and maine branch of Cha- 
wan River, and was by us named Woodford River, 
and runs to the Eastward of the South. On both sides 
of Woodford River is very much exceeding rich 
Land, but especially on the further side towards Ho- 
comawananck. Imediately after the passage over this 
River, are old Indian fields of exceeding rich Land, 
that beare two Crops of Indian Corne a yeare and 
hath timber trees above five foot over, whose truncks 
are a hundred foot in cleare timber, which will make 
twenty Cuts of Board timber a piece, and of these 
there is abundance. 

As also exceeding rich Land, full of great Reeds 
thrice as big as the largest Arrovv' Reeds we have 
about our Plantations; this good Land continues for 
some six miles together unto a great Swampp, and 



Discovery of New Brittaine 121 

then begins a pyny barren Champion Land with div- 
ers Branches and Pecosans, yet very passeable, run- 
ning South and by West, unto a deepe River some a 
hundred paces over, running South, and a little to the 
East, which River incloses a small Island which wee 
named Brewsters Island, some eighteene miles from 
Woodford River due South, and by West, with very 
exceeding rich Land on both sides of it for some sixe 
miles together, and this River we also named Brew- 
sters River, it being the first branch of Hocomawan- 
anck River: and a little lower downe as the River 
runs, is such another River as Chickahamine River 
(which is a mile broad.) 

After w^e had passed over this River we travelled 
some twenty miles further upon a pyny barren Cham- 
pion Land to Hocomawananck River, South, and by 
West: some twelve miles from Brewsters River we 
came unto a path running crosse some twenty yards 
on each side unto two remarkeable Trees ; at this path 
our Appamattuck Guide made a stop, and cleared the 
Westerly end of the path with his foote, being de- 
manded the meaning of it, he shewed an unwilling- 
nesse to relate it, sighing very much : Whereupon we 
made a stop untill Oyeocker our other Guide came 
up, and then our Appamattuck Guide journied on; 
but Oyeocker at his comming up cleared the other 
end of the path, and prepared himselfe in a most seri- 
ous manner to require our attentions, and told us that 
many years since their late great Emperour Ap- 
pachancano came thither to make a War upon the 
Tuskarood, in revenge of three of his men killed, and 
one wounded, who escaped, and brought him word of 



122 Trans- Allegheny Region 

the other three murthered by the Hocomawananck 
Indians for lucre of the Roanoake they brought with 
them to trade for Otterskins. There accompanyed 
Appachancano severall petty Kings that were under 
him, amongst which there was one King of a Towne 
called Pawhatan, which had long time harboured a 
grudge against the King of Chawan, about a yong 
woman that the King of Chawan had detayned of the 
King of Pawhatan: Now it hapned that the King of 
Chawan was invited by the King of Pawhatan to this 
place under pretence to present him with a guift of 
some great vallew, and there they met accordingly, 
and the King of Pawhatan went to salute and em- 
brace the King of Chawan, and stroaking of him after 
their usuall manner, he whipt a bow string about the 
King of Chawans neck, and strangled him; and how 
that in memoriall of this, the path is continued unto 
this day, and the friends of the Pawhatans when they 
passe that way, cleanse the Westerly end of the path, 
and the friends of the Chawans the other. And some 
two miles from this path we came unto an Indian 
Grave upon the East side of the path: Upon which 
Grave there lay a great heape of sticks covered with 
greene boughs, we demanded the reason of it, Oyeock- 
er told us, that there lay a great man of the Chawans 
that dyed in the same quarrell, and in honour of his 
memory they continue greene boughs over his Grave 
to this day, and ever when they goe forth to Warre 
they relate his, and others valorous, loyall Acts, to 
their yong men, to annimate them to doe the like when 
occasion requires. Some foure miles from Hoco- 
mawananck is very rich Champian Land: It was 
night when we came to Hocomawananck River, and 



Discovery of New Brittaine 123 

the Indian that came with us from Woodford Riv- 
er, and belonged to Hocomawananck, would have 
had us quartered upon the side of a great Swampp 
that had the advantage of severall bottomes of the 
Swampp on both sides of us, but we removed to take 
our advantage for safety, and retreate, in case any 
accident should happen, which at that time promised 
nothing but danger, for our Guides began to be 
doubtfull, and told us, that the Hocomawananck In- 
dians were very treacherous, and that they did not 
like their countenances, and shape well; this place 
we named Pyanchas Parke: about three houres after 
we had taken up our Quarters, some of the Inhabit- 
ants came, and brought us roasting eares, and Stur- 
geon, and the Hocomawananck Indian that came 
with us from Woodford River, came not unto us untill 
next day, but his Warrowance told us before wee 
came from Woodford, hee could not come untill that 
day at night. The next day morning after our com- 
ming to Hocomawananck the Inhabitants seemed to 
prepare us a house. But we about eight of the clock 
set forward to goe view the place where they killed 
Sturgeon, which was some six miles from the place 
where we quartered by Pyanchas Parke, where there 
is a River Running very deep South, exceeding deepe, 
and foure hundred paces broad: The high water 
marke of this River between both sides of the River 
perpendicular, from the top of the Banck to the Riv- 
er, is forty five foot upon a fresh ; this River was by 
us named Blandina River: from Pyanchas Parke to 
the place where they kill Sturgeon is six miles up the 
River running Northerly, and all exceeding rich land : 
Both upwards and downewards upon the River, at 



124 Trans- Allegheny Region 

this place where they kill Sturgeon also are the Falls, 
and at the foot of these Falls also lies two Islands ''^ 
in a great Bay, the uppermost whereof Mr. Blande 
named Charles Island, and the lowermost Captaine 
Wood named Berkeley Island: on the further side 
of these Islands the Bay runs navigable by the two 
Islands sides: Charles Island is three miles broad, 
and foure miles long, and Berkeley Island almost as 
big, both in a manner impregnable, by nature being 
fortified with high Clefts of Rocky Stone, and hardly 
passeable, without a way cut through them, and con- 
sists all of exceeding rich Land, and cleare fields, 
wherein growes Canes of a foot about, and of one 
yeares growth Canes that a reasonable hand can hard- 
ly span ; and the Indians told us they were very sweet, 
and that at some time of the yeare they did suck them, 
and eate them, and of those we brought some away 
with us. The Land over against Charles Island we 
named Blands Discovery, and the Land over against 
Berkeley Island we named Woods journy, and at the 

129 These t\vo islands are just below the falls of the Roanoke River, where 
it is formed by the confluence of the Dan and Staunton, at Clarksville, Vir- 
ginia. They are now called Occoneechee and Totero, respectively, from the 
Indian tribes which afterward occupied them. From 1673 and perhaps 
earlier (see Introduction) the Occoneechee fortified themselves in the one 
which Bland calls Berkeley Island, and by reason of their strategic and secure 
location were able to offer great annoyance to the fur trade which passed 
along the great Trading Path into the Carolina piedmont, crossing their 
island, and to the advance of agricultural settlement in the region. As a 
result. Bacon visited them there in 1676 and inflicted a terrible defeat upon 
them [fVilliam and Mary Quarterly, vol. xi, i2i]. Later they were joined 
by the Toteros, who took the other island as their residence. Both tribes 
suffered here as in their previous home from the attacks of the Iroquois. 
William Byrd in his Journey to the Land of Eden, describes the region 
and particularly the two islands v.ith some detail, and repeats some charm- 
ing legends of the Iroquois conflicts which centered about them. Byrd, 
William. Writings, 244-247, 286, 288-290. 



Discovery of New Brittaine 125 

lower end of Charles Island lies a Bay due South from 
the said Island, so spatious that we could not see the 
other side of it: this bay we named Pennants Bay, and 
in the River between Charles Island, and the maine 
Land lies a Rocky Point in the River, which Point 
comes out of Charles Island, and runs into the middle 
of the River: this Point we named Brewsters Point, 
and at this Point only, and no other is there any place 
passeable into Charles Island, and this Brewsters 
Point runs not quite from Charles Island to the maine 
Land, but when you come off the maine Land to the 
Rivers side, you must wade about fifty paces to come 
upon the Point, and if you misse the Point on either 
side, up or downe the River, you must swim, and the 
River runs very swift. Some three miles from the 
River side over against Charles Island is a place of 
severall great heapes of bones, and heere the Indian 
belonging to Blandina River that went along with us 
to the Fals, sat downe, and seemed to be much discon- 
tented, in somuch that he shed teares; we demanded 
why those bones were piled up so curiously? Oye- 
ocker told us, that at this place Appachancano one 
morning with four hundred men treacherously slew 
two hundred forty of the Blandina River Indians in 
revenge of three great men slaine by them, and the 
place we named Golgotha; as we were going to Blan- 
dina River we spake to Oyeocker our Guide to lead 
us the way, and he would not; but asked our Appa- 
mattuck Guide why we did not get us gone, for the 
Inhabitants were jealous of us, and angry with us, 
and that the Runner we sent to the Tuskarood would 
not come at the day appointed, nor his King, but ran 
another way, and told the Indians that we came to cut 



126 Trans- Allegheny Region 

them off; whereupon our Appamattuck Guide 
stepped forth, and frowning said, come along, we 
will go see the Falls and so led the way, and also told 
us that the Woodford Indians lied, and that Indian 
that came to us, which the Woodford Indian said was 
the King of Blandina River, was not the Werrow- 
ance of Blandina River; whereupon we resolved to 
return (having named the whole Continent New 
Brittaine) another way into our old path that led to 
Brewsters River, and shot off no guns because of 
making a commotion, and adding to the Natives 
feares. At Blandina River we had some discourse 
with our Appamattuck Guide concerning that River, 
who told us that that Branch of Blandina River ran 
a great way up into the Country; and that about three 
dayes journy further to the South West, there was a far 
greater Branch so broad that a man could hardly see 
over it, and bended it self e to the Northward above the 
head of James River, unto the foot of the great Moun- 
taines, on which River there lived many people up- 
wards, being the Occonacheans and the Nessoneicks, 
and that where some of the Occanacheans lived, there 
is an Island within the River three dayes journy 
about,^^° which is of a very rich and fertile soile, and 
that the upper end of the Island is fordable, not above 
knee deepe, of a stony bottome, running very swift, 
and the other side very deepe and navigable : Also we 
found many of the people of Blandina River to have 

130 Xhe branch of the Roanoke to which the Indian had reference was 
the Dan. The Occanrechi appear to have resided on an island in it not far 
from Danville, Va., and Lederer claimed to have found them there as late as 
1670. For the Occaneechi see, in addition to the Handbook of American 
Indians, Mooney, Siouan Tribes of the East, Bulletin 22, Bureau of American 
Ethnology. 



Discovery of New Brittaine 127 

beards, and both there, and at Woodford River we 
saw many very old men, and that the Climate accord- 
ing to our opinions was far more temperate then ours 
of Virginia, and the inhabitants full of Children; 
they also told us that at the bottome of the River was 
great heapes of Salt ; and we saw among them Copper, 
and were informed that they tip their pipes with sil- 
ver, of which some have been brought into this Coun- 
try, and 'tis very probable that there may be Gold and 
other Mettals amongst the hills. 

September I. About noone from Woods Journey 
wee travelled some sixe miles North East, unto the old 
Path that leads to Brewsters River: within night we 
quartered on the other side of it, and kept good watch : 
this Path runnes from Woods Journey North and by 
East, and due North. 

September 2. In the morning about eight of the 
clocke, as every one was mounted, came to our quar- 
ters Occonosquay, sonne to the Tuskarood King, and 
another Indian whom he told was a Werrowance, 
and his Kinseman, with the Runner which wee had 
sent to the Tuskarood King, who was to meet us at 
Blandina River that night; the Kings sonne told us 
that the Englishman would be at his house that night, 
a great way off; and would have had us gone backe 
with him, but we would not, and appointed him to 
meete us at Woodford River where hee came not, wee 
having some suspition that hee came from Woodford 
River that night, and that our Runner had not beene 
where we had sent him, through some information 
of our Nottaway guide, which afterwards proved 
true, by the Relation of the Werrowance of Blandina 
River, whom about fowre howres after wee had part- 



128 Trans- Allegheny Region 

ed with the Kings son, wee met on the way comming 
from Woodford River with a company of men, think- 
ing he should have found us at Blandina River that 
night, according to his order and promise ; with whom 
falling into discourse, he told us that the King of the 
Tuskaroods son, and our Runner were the night be- 
fore at Woodford River; but the Kings son told us 
he came from Blandina River, and beyond, and hear- 
ing we were gone before he came, he had travelled 
all night from Blandina River to overtake us. This 
day about Noone we came to Woodford River 
Towne, and tarried there that night, we found the 
old Werrowance, and all his great men gone, yet had 
courteous quarter; but not without great grounds of 
suspition, and signes that they were angry at us: at 
our coming back to Woodford River we had infor- 
mation that some Spies of Wainoake had been there a 
little before we came, and that the King of Wainoake 
and Chounterounte had sent Runners to all the Na- 
tions thereabouts, informing them that the English 
were come to cut them off, which we supposed to be 
some greater Polititians then Indian Consultations, 
who had some private ends to themselves, and mind- 
ed nothing lesse then a publick good; for we found 
that the Runner whom we imployed to carry our mes- 
sage to the Tuskarood King, ran to the Waynoakes, 
and he whom the Woodford Indians told us was the 
Werrowance of Blandina River, was a Woodford In- 
dian, and no Werrowance, but done of purpose to get 
something out of us, and we had information that at 
that time there were other English amongst the In- 
dians. 



Discovery of New Brittaine 129 

September J. By breake of day we journied from 
Woodford River to a path some eight miles above 
Pennants Mount running North, and by East and 
North, North, East, which was done by the advice of 
our Appamattuck Guide, who told us that he was 
informed that some plots might be acted against us, 
if we returned the way that we came, for we told 
Chounterounte we would returne the same way 
againe: And this information our Guide told us he 
had from a woman that was his Sweet-heart belong- 
ing to Woodford River. This day we passed over 
very much rich, red, fat, marie Lande, betweene 
Woodford River Towne, and the head of Pennants 
Mount, with divers Indian fields; the head of which 
River abounds much with great Rocks of Stone, and 
is two hundred paces over, and hath a small Island 
in it named Sackfords Island. Betweene Pennants 
Mount River head, and the head of Farmers Chase 
River is very much exceeding rich, red, fat, marie 
Land, and Nottaway and Schockoores old fields, for 
a matter of sixe miles together all the trees are blowne 
up or dead: Heere it began to raine, and some six 
miles further we tooke up our quarters, and it proved 
a very wet night. At the first other Nottaway old 
fields, we found the Inhabitants much perplexed 
about a gun that went ofif to the Westward of them, 
the night before wee came thither, which our Appa- 
mattuck Guide conceived were the Wainoake Spies, 
set out there to prevent our journyings, and we found 
severall Agers about the place where the Indians told 
us the gun went ofif. 

September 4. About eight of the Clock we trav- 



130 Trans- Allegheny Region 

elled North, North-East some six miles, unto the head 
of Farmers Chase River, where we were forced to 
swimm our horses over, by reason of the great rain 
that fell that night, which otherwise with a little 
labour may be made very passable. At this place is 
very great Rocky stones, fit to make Mill-stones with 
very rich tracks of Land, and in some places between 
the head of Farmers Chase River and Black water 
Lake, is ground that gives very probable proofe of 
an Iron, or some other rich Mine. Some sixteen 
miles from Farmers Chase, North, and by East, and 
North, North-East, lies Black water Lake, which hath 
very much rich land about it, and with little labour 
will be made very passable. From Black water Lake 
we did travell to the old fields of Manks Nessoneicks, 
and from thence some twelve miles North North East 
we came unto Fort Henry about the close of the Even- 
ing, all well and in good health, notwithstanding 
from the time we had spoken with Chounterounte at 
Pennants Mount, we every night kept a strickt watch, 
having our Swords girt, and our Guns and Pistols by 
us, for the Indians every night where we lay, kept a 
strict guard upon us. 

The Discoverers, viz. Mr. Edward Blande, 
Merchant; Abraham Wood, Captaine; Mr. Elias 
Pennant; Mr. Sackford Brewster; Robert Farmer, 
Servant to Mr. Blande; Henry Newcombe, Servant 
to Captaine Wood ; Guides - Oyeocker, a Nottaway 
Werrowance; Pyancha, an Appamattuck War Cap- 
taine. 



Ill 

The Discoveries of John Lederer 

Sir William Talbot's The Discoveries of John Lederer ^^^ 



131 Printed from the reprint of G. P. Humphrey, Rochester, N.Y., 1902. 
It has also been reprinted by Harpel, Cincinnati, 1879, with an explanatory 
introduction by H. A. Rattermann. This introduction is of little value. 
Ratterraann says that Lederer came to Virginia in 1668, and that he spoke 
various languages, but does not give any certain source of information other 
than the book itself. He makes several speculations as to Lederer's identity, 
but thinks him most likely to have been a Tyrolese. He is entirely credulous 
as to Lederer's account of his performances, states that the latter from 
modesty rather underestimated than overestimated his distances, and thinks 
that the Doctor really went as far as Florida on his second expedition. His 
explanations of Lederer's marvelous yarns are rather clever. A German 
translation of the book, also by Rattermarm, was published in Das Pionier, 
a German periodical of Cincinnati, in 1876. For other reprints, see "Bib- 
liography." 



\: 



THE 

DISCOVERIES 

OF 
In three fevcral Marches from 

VIR GINI A, 

To the Weft of 

Carolina, 

And other parts of the Continent : 

Begun in M»rcJE> i6^p, and ended in Seftembir 1670. 
Together \vith 

A General M A P of the whole Territory 
which he traverfed. I.-. 



ColU^ed and Tranflated out of Latine from his Difcourfe 
and Writings, , 

By Sir iVilliam Talhot Baronet. 

Std nos immntfum fpaii/s ce)if'.cimu< <(fMr, 
EtiamtemfM equtmfu^riav.tiifol'jiiCco'U, Virg.Georg. 



jv hondottt Printed by.J.C. for Samud Heynck,-> at Gtays- 
Inne-^ate in Holborn. 1672. 



Facsimile of origin. a i, titi e-page of "The Discoveries 
OF JoHx Lederer" 



. . i. 



To the Right Honourable 
ANTHONY Lord Ashley, 
Baron Ashley of Wimborn St. Giles, 
Chancellor of his Majesties Exchequer, 
Under-Treasurer of England, 
One of the Lords Commissioners of his Ma- 
jesties Treasury, one of the Lords of his 
most Honourable Privie Council, 
and one of the Lords Proprie- 
tors of CAROLINA 
My Lord, From this discourse it is clear that the 
long looked-for discovery of the Indian Sea does 
nearly approach; and Carolina, out of her happy ex- 
perience of your lordships success in great undertak- 
ings, presumes that the accomplishment of this glo- 
rious designe is reserved for her. In order to which, 
the Apalataean Mountains (though like the prodi- 
gious wall that divides China and Tartary, they deny 
Virginia passage into the West Continent) stoop to 
your lordships dominions, and lay open a prospect 
into unlimited empires; empires that will hereafter 
be ambitious of subjection to that noble government 
which by your lordships deep wisdom and providence 
first projected is now established in Carolina; for it 
will appear that she flourishes more by the influence 
of that, than the advantages she derives from her cli- 
mate and soyl, which yet do render her the beauty 
and envy of North-America. That all her glories 



136 Trans-Allegheny Region 

should be seen in this draught, is not reasonably to be 
expected, since she sate to my author but once, and 
then too with a side-face; and therefore I must own 
it was never by him designed for the press, but pub- 
lished by me, out of no other ambition than that of 
manifesting to the world, that I am, My Lord, Your 
lordships most humble and obedient servant, 

William Talbot. 

To THE Reader. That a stranger should presume 
(though with Sir William Berkly's Commission) to 
go into those parts of the American Continent where 
Englishmen never had been, and whither some re- 
fused to accompany him, was, in Virginia look'd on as 
so great an insolence, that our traveller at his return, 
instead of welcom and applause, met nothing but 
affronts and reproaches; for indeed it was their part, 
that forsook him in the expedition, to procure him 
discredit that was a witness to theirs; therefore no 
industry was wanting to prepare men with a preju- 
dice against him, and this their malice improved to 
such a general animosity, that he was not safe in Vir- 
ginia from the outrage of the people, drawn into a 
perswasion, that the publick levy of that year, went 
all to the expence of his vagaries. Forced by this 
storm into Maryland, he became known to me, 
though then ill-affected to the man, by the stories that 
went about of him: Nevertheless finding him, con- 
trary to my expectation, a modest ingenious person, 
and a pretty scholar, I thought it common justice to 
give him an occasion of vindicating himself from 
what I had heard of him; which truly he did with 



Discoveries of John Lederer 137 



so convincing reason and circumstance, as quite abol- 
ished those former impressions in me, and made me 
desire this account of his travels, which here you have 
faithfully rendered out of Latine from his own writ- 
ings and discourse, with an entire map of the territory 
he traversed, copied from his own hand. All these I 
have compared with Indian relations of those parts 
(though I never met with any Indian that had fol- 
lowed a southwest-course so far as this German) and 
finding them agree, I thought the printing of these 
papers was no injury to the author, and might prove 
a service to the publick. William Talbot. 



A General and Brief Account of the North- 
American Continent 

North, as well as South-America, may be divided 
into three regions: the flats, the highlands, and the 
mountains. The flats, (in Indian, Ahkynt) is the 
territory lying between the eastern coast, and the falls 
of the great rivers, that there run into the Atlantick 
Ocean, in extent generally taken ninety miles. The 
highlands (in Indian, Akkontshuck) begin at those 
falls, and determine at the foot of the great ridge of 
mountains that runs thorow the midst of this conti- 
nent, northeast and southwest, called by the Spaniards 
Apalattei, from the Nation Apalakin; and by the 
Indians, Pcemotinck. According to the best of my 
observation and conjecture, they lie parallel to the 
Atlantick sea-coast, that bearing from Canada to 
Cape Florida, northeast and southwest, and then fall- 
ing off due west as the mountains do at Sara : but here 
they take the name of Suala; Sara in the Warrennun- 
cock dialect being Sasa or Sualy. 

The flats, or Ahkynt^ are by former writers made 
so well known to Christendom, that I will not stop 
the reader here, with an unnecessary description of 
them; but shall onely say, that by the rankness of the 
soyl, and salt moistness of the air, daily discoveries of 
fish-shells three fathom deep in the earth, and Indian 
tradition; these parts are supposed some ages past to 
have lain under the sea. 



Discoveries of John Lederer 141 

The highlands (or Ahkontshuck) though under 
the same parallels, are happie notwithstanding in a 
more temperate and healthful air. The ground is 
over-grown with underwood in many places, and 
that so perplext and interwoven with vines, that who 
travels here, must sometimes cut through his way. 
These thickets harbour all sorts of beasts of prey, as 
wolves, panthers, leopards, lions, etc. (which are 
neither so large nor so fierce as those of Asia and 
Africa) and small vermine as wilde cats, foxes, ra- 
coons. These parts were formerly possessed by the 
Tacci alias Dogi; but they are extinct; and the In- 
dians now seated here, are distinguished into the sev- 
eral nations of Mahoc, Nuntaneuck, alias Nuntaly, 
Nahyssan, Sapon, Managog, Mangoack, Akenatzy, 
and Monakin, etc. One language is common to them 
all though they dififer in dialects. ^^" The parts in- 
habited here are pleasant and fruitful, because 
cleared of wood, and laid open to the sun. The val- 
leys feed numerous herds of deer and elks larger than 
oxen: these valleys they call Savanae, being marish 
grounds at the foot of the Apalataei, and yearly laid 
under water in the beginning of summer by flouds of 
melted snow falling down from the mountains. 

The Apalataean mountains, called in Indian 
Pcemotinck^ (or the origine of the Indians) are bar- 
ren rocks, and therefore deserted by all living crea- 
tures but bears, who cave in the hollow clififs. Yet 
do these mountains shoot out to the eastward great 
promontories of rich land, known by the high and 

132 All the tribes mentioned were of the Eastern Siouan group. See 
Mooney, Siouan Tribes of the East. 



142 Trans-Allegheny Region 

spreading trees which they bear: these promontories, 
because lower than the main ridge, are called by the 
Indians Tanx-P<^motinck (alias Aquatt). To the 
northeast the mountains rise higher; and at Sara they 
sink so low, that they are easily passed over: but here 
(as was said before) they change their course and 
name, running due West, and being called Sualy: 
now the Sualian mountains rise higher and higher 
westward. 

Of the Manners and Customs of the Indians inhabit- 
ing the Western parts of Carolina and Virginia 

The Indians now seated in these parts are none of 
those which the English removed from Virginia, but 
a people driven by an enemy from the Northwest, 
and invited to sit down here by an oracle about four 
hundred years since, as they pretend: for the ancient 
inhabitants of Virginia were far more rude and bar- 
bourous, feeding onely upon raw flesh and fish, until 
these taught them to plant corn, and shewed them the 
use of it. 

But before I treat of their ancient manners and 
customs, it is necessary I should shew by what means 
the knowledge of them has been conveyed from 
former ages to posterity. Three ways they supply 
their want of letters: first by counters, secondly by 
emblemes or hieroglyphicks, thirdly by tradition de- 
livered in long tales from father to son, which being 
children they are made to learn by rote. 

For counters, they use either pebbles, or short scant- 
lings of straw or reeds. Where a battle has been 
fought, or a colony seated, they raise a small pyra- 



Discoveries of John Lederer 143 

mid of these stones, consisting of the number slain or 
transplanted. Their reeds and straws serve them in 
religious ceremonies: for they lay them orderly in a 
circle when they prepare for devotion or sacrifice; 
and that performed, the circle remains still: for it is 
sacriledge to disturb or to touch it: the disposition 
and sorting of the straws and reeds, shew what kinde 
of rites have there been celebrated, as invocation, sac- 
rifice, burial, etc. 

The faculties of the minde and body they commonly 
express by emblems. By the figure of a stag, they im- 
ply swiftness; by that of a serpent, wrath; of a lion, 
courage; of a dog, fidelity: by a swan they signifie the 
English, alluding to their complexion, and flight over 
the sea. 

An account of time, and other things, they keep on a 
string or lea-ther thong tied in knots of several col- 
ours. I took particular notice of small wheels serving 
for this purpose amongst the Oenocks, because I have 
heard that the Mexicans use the same. Every nation 
gives his particular ensigne or arms: The Sasque- 
sahanaugh a Tarapine, or small tortoise; the Ake- 
natzy's a serpent; the Nahyssanes three arrows, etc. 
In this they likewise agree with the Mexican Indians. 
Vid. Jos. a Costa. 

They worship one God, Creator of all things, whom 
some call Okaec, others Mannith: to him alone the 
high-priest, or Periku, offers sacrifice; and yet they 
believe he has no regard to sublunary affairs, but com- 
mits the government of mankinde to lesser deities, as 
Quiacosough and Tagkanysough, that is, good and 
evil spirits : to these the inferiour priests pay their de- 



144 Trans-Allegheny Region 

votion and sacrifice, at which they make recitals, to a 
lamentable tune, of the great things done by their an- 
cestors. 

From four women, viz. Pash, Sepoy, Askarin and 
Maraskarin, they derive the race of mankinde; which 
they therefore divide into four tribes, distinguished 
under those several names. They very religiously 
observe the degrees of marriage, which they limit not 
to distance of kindred, but difference of tribes, which 
are continued in the issue of the females: now for two 
of the same tribe to match, is abhorred as incest, and 
punished with great severity. 

Their places of burial they divide into four quar- 
ters, assigning to every tribe one: for, to mingle their 
bodies, even when dead, they hold wicked and omi- 
nous. They commonly wrap up the corpse in beasts 
skins, and bury with it provision and housholdstuflf 
for its use in the other world. When their great 
men die, they likewise slay prisoners of war to attend 
them. They believe the transmigration of souls: for 
the angry they say is possest with the spirit of a ser- 
pent; the bloudy with that of a wolf; the timorous, of 
a deer; the faithful, of a dog, etc. and therefore they 
are figured by these emblems. 

Elizium, or the abode of their lesser deities, they 
place beyond the mountains and Indian Ocean. 

Though they want those means of improving hu- 
man reason, which the use of letters affords us; let us 
not therefore conclude them wholly destitute of 
learning and sciences: for by these little helps which 
they have found, many of them advance their natural 
understandings to great knowledge in physick, rheto- 



Discoveries of John Lederer 145 

rick and policie of government: for I have been 
present at several of their consultations and debates, 
and to my admiration have heard some of their seniors 
deliver themselves with as much judgment and elo- 
quence as I should have expected from men of civil 
education and literature. 

The First Expedition from the head of Pemceoncock, 

alias York-River (due West) to the top of 

the Apalateean Mountains 

Upon the ninth of March, 1669, (with three In- 
dians whose names were Magtakunh, Hopottoguoh 
and Naunnugh) I went out at the falls of Pemaeon- 
cock,"^ alias York-River in Virginia, from an Indian 
village called Shickehamany, and lay that night in 
the woods, encountring nothing remarkable, but a 
rattle-snake of an extraordinary length and thickness, 
for I judged it two yards and a half or better from 
head to tail, and as big about as a mans arm: by the 
distention of her belly, we believed her full with 
young; but having killed and opened her, found there 
a small squirrel whole; which caused in me a double 
wonder: first, how a reptile should catch so nimble a 
creature as a squirrel; and having caught it, how he 
could swallow it entire. The Indians in resolving my 
doubts, plunged me into a greater astonishment, when 
they told me that it was usual in these serpents, when 
they lie basking in the sun, to fetch down these squir- 
rels from the tops of the trees, by fixing their eyes 
steadfastly upon them; the horrour of which strikes 
such an afifrightment into the little beast, that he has 

133 Pamunkey. 



146 Trans-Allegheny Region 

no power to hinder himself from tumbling down into 
the jaws of his enemy, who takes in all his sustenance 
without chewing, his teeth serving him onely to offend 
withal. But I rather believe what I have heard from 
others, that these serpents climb the trees, and sur- 
prise their prey in the nest. 

The next day falling into marish grounds between 
the Pemaeoncock and the head of the River Matape- 
neugh, the heaviness of the way obliged me to cross 
Pemaeoncock, where its North and South branch 
(called Ackmick) joyn in one. In the peninsula made 
by these two branches, a great Indian king called 
Tottopottoma was heretofore slain in battle, fighting 
for the Christians against the Mahocks and Nahys- 
sans, from whence it retains his name to this day.'" 
Travelling thorow the woods, a doe seized by a wild 
cat crossed our way; the miserable creature being 
even spent and breathless with the burden and cruelty 
of her rider, who having fastened on her shoulder, 
left not sucking out her bloud until she sunk under 
him: which one of the Indians perceiving, let fly a 
lucky arrow, which piercing him thorow the belly, 
made him quit his prey already slain, and turn with a 
terrible grimas at us ; but his strength and spirits fail- 
ing him, we escaped his revenge, which had certainly 
ensued, were not his wound mortal. This creature is 
something bigger than our English fox, of a reddish 
grey colour, and in figure every way agreeing with 
an ordinary cat; fierce, ravenous and cunning: for 
finding the deer (upon which they delight most to 

^3* The fight at the forks of the Pamunkey in 1656 in which Totopotamoi 
fell was really with the strange Ricahecrian Indians from beyond the moun- 
tains. See footnote 139. 



Discoveries of John Lederer 147 

prey) too swift for them, they watch upon branches of 
trees, and as they walk or feed under, jump down 
upon them. The fur of the wilde cat, though not very 
fine, is yet esteemed for its virtue in taking away cold 
aches and pains, being worn next to the body; their 
flesh, though rank as a dogs, is eaten by the Indians. 

The eleventh and twelfth, I found the ways very 
uneven and cumbred with bushes. 

The thirteenth, I reached the first spring of Pem- 
aeoncock, having crossed the river four times that day, 
by reason of its many windings; but the water was so 
shallow, that it hardly wet my horses patterns. Here 
a little under the surface of the earth, I found flat 
pieces of petrified matter, on one side solid stone, but 
on the other side isinglas, which I easily peeled off in 
flakes about four inches square: several of these 
pieces, with a transparent stone like crystal that cut 
glass, and a white marchasite that I purchased of the 
Indians, I presented to Sir William Berkley, Gover- 
nour of Virginia. 

The fourteenth of March, from the top of an emi- 
nent hill, I first descried that Apalataean mountains, 
bearing due west to the place I stood upon: their dis- 
tance from me was so great, that I could hardly dis- 
cern whether they were mountains or clouds, until my 
Indian fellow travellers prostrating themselves in 
adoration, howled out after a barbarous manner, 
Okee feeze i. e. God is nigh. 

The fifteenth of March, not far from this hill, pass- 
ing over the South-branch of Rappahanock-river, I 
was almost swallowed in a quicksand. Great herds of 
red and fallow deer I daily saw feeding; and on the 
hill-sides, bears crashing mast like swine. Small leo- 



148 Trans-Allegheny Region 

pards I have seen in the woods, but never any lions, 
though their skins are much worn by the Indians. The 
wolves in these parts are so ravenous, that I often 
in the night feared my horse would be devoured by 
them, they would gather up and howl so close round 
about him, though tethr'd to the same tree at whose 
foot I my self and the Indians lay: but the fires which 
we made, I suppose, scared them from worrying us 
all. Beaver and otter I met with at every river that 
I passed ; and the woods are full of grey foxes. 

Thus I travelled all the sixteenth ; and on the seven- 
teenth of March I reached the Apalataei. The air 
here is very thick and chill; and the waters issuing 
from the mountain-sides, of a blue colour, and allum- 
ish taste. 

The eighteenth of March, after I had in vain as- 
sayed to ride up, I alighted, and left my horse with 
one of the Indians, whilst with the other two I 
climbed up the rocks, which were so incumbred with 
bushes and brambles, that the ascent proved very diffi- 
cult: besides the first precipice was so steep, that if I 
lookt down I was immediately taken with a swim- 
ming in my head; though afterwards the way was 
more easie. The height of this mountain was very 
extraordinary: for notwithstanding I set out with the 
first appearance of light, it was late in the evening be- 
fore I gained the top, from whence the next morning 
I had a beautiful prospect of the Atlantick-Ocean 
washing the Virginian-shore; but to the north and 
west, my sight was suddenly bounded by mountains 
higher than that I stood upon. Here did I wander in 
snow, for the most part, till the four and twentieth 
day of March, hoping to find some passage through 



Discoveries of John Lederer 149 

the mountains; but the coldness of the air and earth 
together, seizing my hands and feet with numbness, 
put me to a ne plus ultra ; and therefore having found 
my Indian at the foot of the mountain with my horse, 
I returned back by the same way that I went. 

The Second Expedition from the Falls of Powhatan, 

alias James-River, in Virginia, to Mahock 

in the Apalatcean Mountains 

The twentieth of May 1670, one Major Harris"' 
and myself, with twenty Christian horse, and five In- 
dians, marched from the falls of James-river, in Vir- 
ginia, toward the Monakins; '^^ and on the two and 
twentieth were welcomed by them with volleys of 
shot Near this village we observed a pyramid of 
stones piled up together, which their priests told us 
was the number of an Indian colony drawn out by lot 
from a neighbour-countrey over-peopled, and led 
hither by one Monack, from whom they take the name 
of Monakin. Here enquiring the way to the moun- 
tains, an ancient man described with a stafife two paths 
on the ground; one pointing to the Mahocks, and the 
other to the Nahyssans; but my English companions 
slighting the Indians direction, shaped their course 
by the compass due west, and therefore it fell out with 
us as it does with those land-crabs, that crawling back- 
wards in a direct line, avoid not the trees that stand in 
their way, but climbing over their very tops, come 
down again on the other side, and so after a days la- 

135 See footnote 120. 

130 "Yhe Manakins or Manacans were visited by Newport as early as 1608, 
and are very frequently mentioned in the records of the colony. Their vil- 
lage was on the James, twenty miles above the falls. A celebrated Huguenot 
colony settled on its site in 1699. Mooney, Siouan Tribes of the East, 26* 



150 Trans- Allegheny Region 

hour gain not above two foot of ground. Thus we 
obstinately pursuing a due west course, rode over steep 
and craggy cliffs, which beat our horses quite off the 
hoof. In these mountains we wandered from the 
twenty-fifth of May till the third of June, finding 
little sustenance for man or horse ; for these places are 
destitute both of grain and herbage. 

The third of June we came to the south-branch of 
James-river, which Major Harris observing to run 
northward, vainly imagined to be an arm of the lake 
of Canada; and was so transported with this fancy, 
that he would have raised a pillar to the discovery, if 
the fear of the Mahock Indian, and want of food had 
permitted him to stay. Here I moved to cross the 
river and march on ; but the rest of the company were 
so weary of the enterprize, that crying out, one and 
all, they had offered violence to me, had I not been 
provided with a private commission from the Gover- 
nour of Virginia to proceed, though the rest of the 
company should abandon me; the sight of which laid 
their fury. 

The lesser hills, or Akontshuck, are here unpass- 
able, being both steep and craggy: the rocks seemed 
to be at a distance to resemble eggs set up an end. 

James-river is here broad as it is about an hundred 
mile lower at Monakin; the passage over is very dan- 
gerous, by reason of the rapid torrents made by rocks 
and shelves forcing the water into narrow chanels. 
From an observation which we made of straws and 
rotten chuncks hanging in the boughs of trees on the 
bank, and two and twenty feet above water, we argued 
that the melted snow falling from the mountains 
swelled the river to that height, the flood carrying 



Discoveries of John Lederer 151 

down that rubbish which, upon the abatement of the 
inundation, remained in the trees. 

The air in these parts was so moist, that all our bis- 
cuit became mouldy, and unfit to be eaten, so that 
some nicer stomachs, who at our setting out laughed at 
my provision of Indian-meal parched, would gladly 
now have shared with me: but I being determined to 
go upon further discoveries, refused to part with any 
of that which was to be my most necessary sustenance.' 

The Continuation of the Second Expedition from 
Mahock, Southward, into the Prov- 
ince of Carolina ^" 

The fifth of June, my company and I parted good 
friends, they back again, and I with one Sasquesahan- 
ough-Indian, named Jackzetavon, only, in pursuit of 
my first enterprize, changing my course from west to 
southwest and by south, to avoid the mountains. 
Major Harris at parting gave me a gun, believing me 
a lost man, and given up as a prey to Indians or sav- 
age beasts; which made him the bolder in Virginia 
to report strange things in his own praise and my dis- 
paragement, presuming I would never appear to dis- 
prove him. This, I suppose, and no other, was the 
cause that he did with so much industry procure me 
discredit and odium ; but I have lost nothing by it, but 

137 It is doubtful where Lederer did go after leaving the main body. We 
have seen that Rattermann accepts his claims at full value, and adds to 
them. On the other hand Cyrus Thomas, in the American Anthropologist, 
vol. V, 724, concludes after a detailed criticism of Lederer's story that "the 
journey into the Carolinas is a myth." He thinks that all the local items 
mentioned by Lederer in the account of this journey were obtained from In- 
dians on the Virginia frontier. We have already observed (Introduction) 
that as far as the Saura village the story bears evidence of verisimilitude. 



152 Trans-Allegheny Region 

what I never studied to gain, which is popular ap- 
plause. 

From the fifth, which was Sunday, until the ninth 
of June, I travelled through difficult ways, without 
seeing any town or Indian; and then I arrived at 
Sapon/^^ a village of the Nahyssans, about an hundred 
miles distant from Mahock, scituate upon a branch 
of Shawan, alias Rorenock-river; and though I had 
just cause to fear these Indians, because they had been 
in continual hostility with the Christians for ten years 
before; yet presuming that the truck which I carried 
with me would procure my welcome, I adventured 
to put myself into their power, having heard that they 
never offer any injury to a few persons from whom 
they apprehend no danger: nevertheless, they ex- 
amined me strictly whence I came, whither I went, 
and what my business was. But after I had bestowed 
some trifles of glass and metal amongst them, they 
were satisfied with reasonable answers, and I received 
with all imaginable demonstrations of kindness, as 
offering of sacrifice, a compliment shewed only to 
such as they design particularly to honour: but they 
went further, and consulted their Godds whether 
they should not admit me into their nation and coun- 
cils, and oblige me to stay amongst them by a marriage 
with the kings or some of their great mens daughters. 
But I, though with much a-do, waved their courtesie, 
and got my pastport, having given my word to return 
to them within six months. 

138 The Sapony village was at this time on Otter creek, flowing into 
Staunton River in Campbell Counts-, Virginia. The Saponys are among the 
most frequently mentioned of the Eastern Siouan tribes. See Mooney, S'touan 
Tribes of the East. 



Discoveries of John Lederer 153 

Sapon is within the limits of the Province of 
Carolina, and as you may perceive by the figure, has 
all the attributes requisite to a pleasant and advanta- 
gious seat; for though it stands high, and upon a dry 
land, it enjoys the benefit of a stately river, and a rich 
soyl, capable of producing many commodities, which 
may hereafter render the trade of it considerable. 

Not far distant from hence, as I understood from 
the Nahyssan Indians, is their kings residence, called 
pintahfE from the same river, and happy in the same 
advantages both for pleasure and profit: which my 
curiosity would have led me to see, were I not bound, 
both by oath and commission, to a direct pursuance 
of my intended purpose of discovering a passage to 
the further side of the mountains. 

This nation is governed by an absolute monarch; 
the people of a high stature, warlike and rich. I 
saw great store of pearl unbored in their little tem- 
ples, or oratories, which they had won amongst other 
spoyls from the Indians of Florida, and hold in as 
great esteem as we do. 

From hence, by an Indians instructions, I directed 
my course to Akenatzy, an island bearing south and 
by west, and about fifty miles distant, upon a branch 
of the same river, from Sapon. The countrey here, 
though high, is level, and for the most part a rich 
soyl, as I judged by the growth of the trees ; yet where 
it is inhabited by Indians, it lies open in spacious 
plains, and is blessed with a very healthful air, as 
appears by the age and vigour of the people; and 
though I travelled in the month of June, the heat of 
the weather hindered me not from riding at all hours 



154 Trans- Allegheny Region 

without any great annoyance from the sun. By easie 
journeys I landed at Akenatzy upon the twelfth of 
June. The current of the river is here so strong, that 
my horse had much difficulty to resist it; and I ex- 
pected every step to be carried away with the stream. 

This island, though small, maintains many inhab- 
itants, who are fix't here in great security, being nat- 
urally fortified with fastnesses of mountains, and 
water of every side. Upon the north-shore they year- 
ly reap great crops of corn, of which they always have 
a twelve-months provision aforehand, against an in- 
vasion from their powerful neighbours. Their gov- 
ernment is under two kings, one presiding in arms, 
the other in hunting and husbandry. They hold all 
things, except their wives, in common; and their cos- 
tume in eating is, that every man in his turn feasts all 
the rest; and he that makes the entertainment is seated 
betwixt the two kings; where having highly com- 
mended his own chear, they carve and distribute it 
amongst the guests. 

At my arrival here, I met four stranger-Indians, 
whose bodies were painted in various colours with 
figures of animals whose likeness I had never seen: 
and by some discourse and signes which passed be- 
tVk^een us, I gathered that they were the only surviv- 
ors of fifty, who set out together in company from 
some great island, as I conjecture, to the northwest; 
for I understood that they crossed a great water, in 
which most of their party perished by tempest, the 
rest dying in the marishes and mountains by famine 
and hard weather, after a two-months travel by land 
and water in quest of this island of Akenatzy. 



Discoveries of John Lederer i^tj 

The most remarkable conjecture that I can frame 
out of this relation is, that these Indians might come 
from the island of new Albion or California, from 
whence we may imagine some great arm of the Indian 
ocean or bay stretches into the continent towards the 
Apalataean mountains in the nature of a mid-land sea, 
in which many of these Indians might have perished. 
To confirm my opinion in this point, I have heard 
several Indians testifie, that the nation of Ricko- 
hockans,"^ who dwell not far to the westward of the 
Apalataean mountains, are seated upon a land, as they 
term it, of great waves; by which I suppose they 
mean the seashore. 

The next day after my arrival at Akenatzy, a Rick- 
ohockan Ambassadour, attended by five Indians, 
whose faces were coloured with auripigmentum (in 
which mineral these parts do much abound) was re- 
ceived, and that night invited to a ball of their fash- 
ion; but in the height of their mirth and dancing, by 
a smoke contrived for that purpose, the room was 
suddenly darkned, and for what cause I know not, the 

139 The Rickahockans or Ricahecrians entered Virginia from beyond the 
mountains in 1656. Through misunderstanding and mismanagement they 
were attacked, and inflicted a severe defeat upon Colonel Edward Hill and 
the friendly Pamunkeys, at the forks of the river of that name. Neill, E. D. 
Virginia Carolorum, 245-246. 

The Bureau of American Ethnology identifies these Indians with the 
Cherokee [Mooney, Siouan Tribes of the East, also Handbook of American 
Indiam, art. "Cherokee"]. They have also been identified with the Erie or 
Rique, who were defeated and expelled from their home on Lake Erie in 
1655. [See Parkman, Jesuits in America, 438-441; Charlevoix, History of 
New France, vol. ii, 266.] They are referred to in many cases under the 
name "Riquehronnons" or "Rigueronnons" - Iroquois designations. [See 
Thwaltes, Jesuit Relations, index s. v. "Eries;" Handbook of American In- 
dians, article "Erie," and synonyms.] They retired behind the Blue Ridge 
after defeating Hill, and remained there for several years. 



156 Trans- Allegheny Region 

Rickohockan and his retinue barbarously murthered. 
Tliis struck me with such an affrightment, that the 
very next day, without taking my leave of them, I 
slunk away with my Indian companion. Though 
the desire of informing my self further concerning 
some minerals, as auripigmentum, etc. which I there 
took special notice of, would have perswaded me to 
stay longer amongst them, had not the bloody exam- 
ple of their treachery to the Rickohockans frightened 
me away. 

The fourteenth of June, pursuing a south-south- 
west course, sometimes by a beaten path, and some- 
times over hills and rocks, I was forc'd to take up my 
quarters in the woods: for though the Oenock-In- 
dians, whom I then sought, were not in a direct line 
above thirty odde miles distant from Akenatzy, yet 
the ways were such, and obliged me to go so far 
about, that I reached not Oenock until the sixteenth. 
The country here, by the industry of these Indians, 
is very open, and clear of wood. Their town is built 
round a field, where in their sports they exercise with 
so much labour and violence, and in so great num- 
bers, that I have seen the ground wet with the sweat 
that dropped from their bodies: their chief recrea- 
tion is slinging of stones. They are of mean stature 
and courage, covetous and thievish, industrious to 
earn a peny; and therefore hire themselves out to 
their neighbours, who employ them as carryers or 
porters. They plant abundance of grain, reap three 
crops in a summer, and out of their granary supply 
all the adjacent parts. These and the mountain-In- 
dians build not their houses of bark, but of watling 



Discoveries of John Lederer 1 57 

and piaister. In summer, the heat of the weather 
makes them chuse to lie abroad in the night under 
thin arbours of wild palm. Some houses they have 
of reed and bark; they build them generally round: 
to each house belongs a little hovel made like an oven, 
where they lay up their corn and mast, and keep it 
dry. They parch their nuts and acorns over the fire, 
to take away their rank oyliness; which afterwards 
pressed, yeeld a milky liquor, and the acorns an am- 
ber-colour'd oyl. In these, mingled together, they dip 
their cakes at great entertainments, and so serve them 
up to their guests as an extraordinary dainty. Their 
government is democratick; and the sentences of their 
old men are received as laws, or rather oracles, by 
them. 

Fourteen miles west-southwest of the Oenocks, 
dwell the Shackory-Indians, upon a rich soyl, and 
yet abounding in antimony, of which they shewed me 
considerable quantities. Finding them agree with 
the Oenocks in customs and manners, I made no stay 
here, but passing thorow their town, I travelled till 
the nineteenth of June; and then after a two days 
troublesome journey thorow thickets and marish 
grounds, I arrived at Watary above fourty miles dis- 
tant, and bearing west-southwest to Shakor. This 
nation dififers in government from all the other In- 
dians of these parts: for they are slaves, rather than 
subjects to their king. Their present monarch is a 
grave man, and courteous to strangers: yet I could 
not without horrour behold his barbarous supersti- 
tion, in hiring three youths, and sending them forth 
to kill as many young women of their enemies as they 



158 Trans-Allegheny Region 



could light on, to serve his son, then newly dead, in 
the other world, as he vainly fancyed. These youths 
during my stay returned with skins torn off the heads 
and faces of three young girls, which they presented 
to his majestic, and were by him gratefully received. 

I departed from Watary the one and twentieth of 
June : and keeping a west-course for near thirty miles, 
I came to Sara : here 1 found the ways more level and 
easie. Sara is not far distant from the mountains, 
which here lose their height, and change their course 
and name : for they run due west, and receive from the 
Spaniards the name of Suala. From these mountains 
or hills the Indians draw great quantities of cinabar, 
with which beaten to powder they colour their faces: 
this mineral is of a deeper purple than vermilion, and 
is the same which is in so much esteem amongst phy- 
sitians, being the first element of quicksilver. 

I did likewise, to my no small admiration, find hard 
cakes of white salt amongst them: but whether they 
were made of sea-water, or taken out of salt-pits, I 
know not; but am apt to believe the later, because the 
sea is so remote from them. Many other rich com- 
modities and minerals there are undoubtedly in these 
parts, which if possessed by an ingenious and indus- 
trious people, would be improved to vast advantages 
by trade. But having tied my self up to things onely 
that I have seen in my travels, I will deliver no con- 
jectures. 

Lingua sile non est ultra narrabile quidquam. 

These Indians are so indiscreetly fond of their 
children, that they will not chastise them for any 



Discoveries of John Lederer 159 

mischief or insolence. A little boy had shot an ar- 
row thorow my body, had I not reconciled him to me 
with gifts: and all this anger was, because I spurred 
my horse out of another arrows way which he di- 
rected at him. This caused such a mutiny amongst 
the youth of the town, that the seniors taking my horse 
and self into protection, had much ado (and that by 
intreaties and prayers, not commands) to appease 
them. 

From Sara I kept a south-southwest course until 
the five and twentieth of June, and then I reached 
Wisacky. This three-days march was more trouble- 
some to me than all my travels besides: for the direct 
way which I took from Sara to Wisacky, is over a 
continuous marish overgrown with reeds, from whose 
roots sprung knotty stumps as hard and sharp as flint. 
I was forc'd to lead my horse most part of the way, 
and wonder that he was not either plunged in the 
bogs, or lamed by those rugged knots. 

This nation is subject to a neighbour king residing 
upon the bank of a great lake called Ushery, inviron- 
ed of all sides with mountains, and Wisacky marish; 
and therefore I will detain the reader no longer with 
the discourse of them, because I comprehend them 
in that of Ushery. 

The six and twentieth of June, having crossed a 
fresh river which runs into the lake of Ushery, I came 
to the town, which was more populous than any I had 
seen before in my march. The king dwells some 
three miles from it, and therefore I had no oppor- 
tunity of seeing him the two nights which I stayed 
there. This prince, though his dominions are large 



i6o Trans-Allegheny Region 

and populous, is in continual fear of the Oustack- 
Indians seated on the opposite side of the lake; a peo- 
ple so addicted to arms, that even their women come 
into the field, and shoot arrows over their husbands 
shoulders, who shield them with leathern targets. 
The men it seems should fight with silver-hatchets: 
for one of the Usheryes told me that they were of the 
same metal with the pomel of my sword. They are 
a cruel generation, and prey upon people, whom they 
either steal or force away from the Usheryes in Peria- 
go's, to sacrifice to their idols. The Ushery-women 
delight in feather-ornaments, of which they have 
great variety; but peacocks in most esteem, because 
rare in those parts. They are reasonably handsome; 
and have more of civility in their carriage than I ob- 
served in the other nations with whom I conversed; 
which is the reason that the men are more effeminate 
and lazie. 

These miserable wretches are strangely infatuated 
with illusions of the devil : it caused no small horrour 
in me, to see one of them wrythe his neck all on one 
side, foam at the mouth, stand bare-foot upon burning 
coals for near an hour, and then recovering his senses, 
leap out of the fire without hurt or signe of any. This 
I was an eye-witness of. 

The water of Ushery-lake seemed to my taste a lit- 
tle brackish; which I rather impute to some mineral- 
waters which flow into it, than to any saltness it can 
take from the sea, which we may reasonably suppose 
is a great way from it. Many pleasant rivulets fall 
into it, and it is stored with great plenty of excellent 
fish. I judged it to be about ten leagues broad: for 



Discoveries of John Lederer i6i 

were not the other shore very high, it could not be 
discerned from Ushery. How far this lake tends 
westerly, or where it ends, I could neither learn or 
guess. 

Here I made a days stay, to inform my self further 
in these countries; and understood both from the 
Usheries, and some Sara-Indians that came to trade 
with them, that two-days journey and a half from 
hence to the southwest, a powerful nation of bearded 
men were seated, which I suppose to be the Span- 
iards, because the Indians never have any; it being an 
universal custom among them to prevent their growth 
by plucking the young hair out by the roots. West- 
ward lies a government inhospitable to strangers; and 
to the north, over the Suala-mountains, lay the Rick- 
ohockans. I thought it not safe to venture my self 
amongst the Spaniards, lest taking me for a spy, they 
would either make me away, or condemn me to a 
perpetual slavery in their mines. Therefore not 
thinking fit to proceed further, the eight and twen- 
tieth of June I faced about, and looked homewards. 

To avoid Wisacky-marish, I shaped my course 
northeast; and after three days travel over hilly ways, 
where I met with no path or road, I fell into a barren 
sandy desert, where I suffered miserably for want of 
water; the heat of the summer having drunk all the 
springs dry, and left no signe of any, but the gravelly 
chanels in which they run: so that if now and then I 
had not found a standing pool, which provident na- 
ture set round with shady oaks, to defend it from the 
ardour of the sun, my Indian companion, horse and 
self had certainly perished with thirst. In this dis- 



1 62 Trans- Allegheny Region 

tress we travelled till the twelfth of July, and then 
found the head of a river, which afterwards proved 
Eruco; in which we received not onely the comfort 
of a necessary and reasonable refreshment, but like- 
wise the hopes of coming into a country again where 
we might find game for food at least, if not discover 
some new nation or people. Nor did our hopes fail 
us: for after we had crossed the river twice, we were 
led by it upon the fourteenth of July to the town of 
Katearas, a place of great Indian trade and com- 
merce, and chief seat of the haughty Emperour of the 
Toskiroro's, called Kaskufara, vulgarly Kaskous. His 
grim Majestic, upon my first appearance, demanded 
my gun and shot; which I willingly parted with to 
ransom my self out of his clutches: for he was the 
most proud imperious barbarian that I met with in all 
my marches. The people here at this time seemed 
prepared for some extraordinary solemnity: for the 
men and the women of better sort had decked them- 
selves very fine with pieces of bright copper in their 
hair and ears, and about their arms and neck, which 
upon festival occasions they use as an extraordinary 
bravery: by which it should seem this country is not 
without rich mines of copper. But I durst not stay 
to inform my self further in it, being jealous of some 
sudden mischief towards me from Kaskous, his na- 
ture being bloudy, and provoked upon any slight 
occasion. 

Therefore leaving Katearas, I travelled through 
the woods until the sixteenth, upon which I came to 
Kawitziokan, an Indian town upon a branch of Kor- 
enoke-river, which here I passed over, continuing my 



Discoveries of John Lederer 163 

journey to Menchaerinck; and on the seventeenth de- 
parting from thence, I lay all night in the woods, and 
the next morning betimes going by Natoway, I 
reached that evening Apamatuck in Virginia, where 
I was not a little overjoyed to see Christian faces 
again. 

The Third and Last Expedition from the Falls of 

Rappahanock-River in Virginia, (due West) 

to the top of the Apalat(Ban Mountains 

On the twentieth of August 1670, Col. Catlet of 
Virginia and my self, with nine English horse, and 
five Indians on foot, departed from the house of one 
Robert Talifer, and that night reached the falls of 
Rappahanock-river, in Indian Mantapeuck. 

The next day we passed it over where it divides 
into two branches north and south, keeping the main 
branch north of us. 

The three and twentieth we found it so shallow, 
that it onely wet our horses hoofs. 

The four and twentieth we travelled thorow the 
Savanae amongst vast herds of red and fallow deer 
which stood gazing at us; and a little after, we came 
to the Promontories or spurs of the Apalataean-moun- 
tains. 

These Savanae are low grounds at the foot of the 
Apalataeans, which all the winter, spring, and part of 
the summer, lie under snow or water, when the snow 
is dissolved, which falls down from the mountains 
commonly about the beginning of June; and then 
their verdure is wonderful pleasant to the eye, espe- 
cially of such as having travelled through the shade of 



164 Trans-Allegheny Region 

the vast forest, come out of a melacholy darkness of 
a sudden, into a clear and open skie. To heighten 
the beauty of these parts, the first springs of most of 
those great rivers which run into the Atlantick ocean, 
or Cheseapeack bay, do here break out, and in various 
branches interlace the flowry meads, whose luxurious 
herbage invites numerous herds of red deer (for their 
unusual largeness improperly termed elks by ignorant 
people) to feed. The right elk, though very com- 
mon in New Scotland, Canada, and those northern 
parts, is never seen on this side of the continent: for 
that which the Virginians call elks, does not at all 
differ from the red deer of Europe, but in his dimen- 
sions, which are far greater: but yet the elk in bigness 
does as far exceed them : their heads, or horns, are not 
very different; but the neck of the elk is so short, that 
it hardly separates the head from the shoulders; 
which is the reason that they cannot feed upon level 
ground but by falling on their knees, though their 
heads be a yard long: therefore they commonly either 
brouse upon trees, or standing up to the belly in ponds 
or rivers feed upon the banks: their cingles or tails 
are hardly three inches long. I have been told by a 
New-England gentlemen, that the lips and nostrils 
of this creature is the most delicious meat he ever 
tasted. As the red deer we here treat of, I cannot 
difference the taste of their flesh from those in Eu- 
rope. 

The six and twentieth of August we came to the 
mountains, where finding no horseway up, we alight- 
ed, and left our horses with two or three Indians 
below, whilst we went up afoot. The ascent was so 



Discoveries of John Lederer i6<^ 

steep, the cold so intense, and we so tired, that having 
with much ado gained the top of one of the highest, 
we drank the kings health in brandy, gave the moun- 
tain his name, and agreed to return back again, hav- 
ing no encouragement from that prospect to proceed 
to a further discovery; since from hence we saw an- 
other mountain, bearing north and by west to us, of a 
prodigious height: for according to an observation 
of the distance taken by Col. Catlet, it could not be 
less than fifty leagues from the place we stood upon. 
Here I was stung in my sleep by a mountain-spider ; 
and had not an Indian suckt out the poyson, I had 
died: for receiving the hurt at the tip of one of my 
fingers, the venome shot up immediately into my 
shoulder, and so inflamed my side, that it is not pos- 
sible to express my torment. The means used by my 
physician, was first a small dose of snake-root-pow- 
der, which I took in a little water: and then making a 
kinde of plaister of the same, applied it neer to the 
part affected : when he had done so, he swallowed 
some by way of antidote himself, and suckt my fingers 
end so violently, that I felt the venome retire back 
from my side into my shoulder, and from thence down 
my arm: having thus suckt half a score times, and 
spit as often, I was eased of all my pain, and perfectly 
recovered. I thought I had been bit by a rattlesnake, 
for I saw not what hurt me: but the Indian found by 
the wound, and the effects of it, that it was given by a 
spider, one of which he shewed me the next day: it is 
not unlike our great blue spider, onely it is somewhat 
longer. I suppose the nature of his poyson to be 
much like that of the tarantula. 



1 66 Trans- Allegheny Region 

I being thus beyond my hopes and expectations re- 
stored to my self, we unanimously agreed to return 
back, seeing no possibility of passing through the 
mountains: and finding our Indians with our horses 
in the place where we left them, we rode homewards 
without making any further discovery. 

Conjectures of the Land beyond the Apalatcean 
Mountains 

They are certainly in a great error, who imagine 
that the continent of North-America is but eight or 
ten days journey over from the Atlantick to the In- 
dian ocean : which all reasonable men must acknowl- 
edge, if they consider that Sir Francis Drake kept a 
west-northwest course from Cape Mendocino to Cal- 
ifornia. Nevertheless, by what I gathered from the 
stranger Indians at Akenatzy of their voyage by sea 
to the very mountains from a far distant northwest 
country, I am brought over to their opinion who 
think that the Indian ocean does stretch an arm or bay 
from California into the continent as far as the Apala- 
taean mountains, answerable to the Gulfs of Florida 
and Mexico on this side. Yet I am far from believ- 
ing with some, that such great and navigable rivers 
are to be found on the other side the Apalataeans fall- 
ing into the Indian ocean, as those which run from 
them to the east^vard. My first reason is derived 
from the knowledge and experience we already have 
of South-America, whose Andes send the greatest 
rivers in the world (as the Amazones and Rio de la 
Plata, etc.) into the Atlantick, but none at all into the 
Pacifique sea. Another argument is, that all our 



Discoveries of John Lederer 167 

water-fowl which delight in lakes and rivers, as swans, 
geese, ducks, etc., come over the mountains from the 
Lake of Canada, when it is frozen over every winter, 
to our fresh rivers ; which they would never do, could 
they find any on the other side of the Apalataeans. 

Instructions to such as shall march upon Discoveries 
into the N orth- American Continent 

Two breaches there are ift the Apalatasan moun- 
tains, opening a passage into the western parts of the 
continent. One, as I am informed by Indians, at a 
place called Zynodoa, to the norward ; the other Sara, 
where I have been my self : but the way thither being 
thorow a vast forest, where you seldom fall into any 
road or path, you must shape your course by a com- 
pass; though some, for want of one, have taken their 
direction from the north-side of the trees, which is 
distinguished from the rest by quantities of thick moss 
growing there. You will not meet with many hinder- 
ances on horseback in your passage to the mountains, 
but where your course is interrupted by branches of 
the great rivers, which in many places are not ford- 
able; and therefore if you be unprovided of means or 
strength to make a bridge by felling trees across, you 
may be forced to go a great way about: in this respect 
company is necessary, but in others so inconvenient, 
that I would not advise above half a dozen, or ten at 
the most, to travel together; and of these, the major 
part Indians: for the nations in your way are prone 
to jealousie and mischief towards Christians in a con- 
siderable body, and as courteous and hearty to a few, 
from whom they apprehend no danger. 



1 68 Trans- Allegheny Region 

When you pass thorow an even level country where 
you can take no particular remarks from hill or 
waters to guide your self by when you come back, you 
must not forget to notch the trees as you go along with 
your small hatchet, that in your return you may know 
when you fall into the same way which you went. By 
this means you will be certain of the place which you 
are in, and may govern your course homeward ac- 
cordingly. 

In stead of bread, I used the meal of parched mayz, 
i. e. Indian wheat; which when I eat, I seasoned with 
a little salt. This is both more portable and strength- 
ening than biscuit, and will suffer no mouldiness by 
any weather. For other provisions, you may securely 
trust to your gun, the woods being full of fallow, and 
savanae of red-deer, besides great variety of excellent 
fowl, as wilde turkeys, pigeons, partridges, pheasants, 
etc. But you must not forget to dry or barbecue 
some of these before you come to the mountains: for 
upon them you will meet with no game, except a few 
bears. 

Such as cannot lie on the ground, must be provided 
with light hamacks, which hung in the trees, are 
more cool and pleasant than any bed whatsoever. 

The order and discipline to be observed in this ex- 
pedition is, that an Indian scout or two march as far 
before the rest of the party as they can in sight, both 
for the finding out provision, and discovery of am- 
bushes, if any should be laid by enemies. Let your 
other Indians keep on the right and left hand, armed 
not onely with guns, but bills and hatchets, to build 
small arbours or cottages of boughs and bark of trees, 



Discoveries of John Lederer 169 

to shelter and defend you from the injuries of the 
weather. At nights it is necessary to make great fires 
round about the place where you take up your lodg- 
ing, as well to scare wild-beasts away, as to purifie 
the air. Neither must you fail to go the round at the 
close of the evening: for then, and betimes in the 
morning, the Indians put all their designes in execu- 
tion : in the night they never attempt any thing. 

When in the remote parts you draw near to an In- 
dian town, you must by your scouts inform your self 
whether they hold any correspondence with the Sas- 
quesahanaughs : for to such you must give notice of 
your approach by a gun; which amongst other In- 
dians is to be avoided, because being ignorant of their 
use, it would afifright and dispose them to some 
treacherous practice against you. 

Being arrived at a town, enter no house until you 
are invited; and then seem not afraid to be led in 
pinion'd like a prisoner: for that is a ceremony they 
use to friends and enemies without distinction. 

You must accept of an invitation from the seniors, 
before that of the young men ; and refuse nothing that 
is offered or set before you : for they are very jealous, 
and sensible of the least slighting or neglect from 
strangers, and mindful of revenge. 

Touching Trade with Indians 

If you barely designe a home-trade with neigh- 
bour-Indians, for skins of deer, beaver, otter, wild- 
cat, fox, racoon, etc. your best truck is a sort of course 
trading cloth, of which a yard and a half makes a 
matchcoat or mantle fit for their wear; as also axes. 



lyo Trans-Allegheny Region 

hoes, knives, sizars, and all sorts of edg'd tools. Guns, 
powder and shot, etc. are commodities they will 
greedily barter for: but to supply the Indians with 
arms and ammunition, is prohibited in all English 
governments. 

In dealing with the Indians, you must be positive 
and at a word: for if they perswade you to fall any 
thing in your price, they will spend time in higgling 
for further abatements, and seldom conclude any bar- 
gain. Sometimes you may with brandy or strong 
liquor dispose them to an humour of giving you ten 
times the value of your commodity ; and at other times 
they are so hide-bound, that they will not ofifer half 
the market-price, especially if they be aware that you 
have a designe to circumvent them with drink, or that 
they think you have a desire to their goods, which 
you must seem to slight and disparage. 

To the remoter Indians, you must carry other kinde 
of truck, as small looking-glasses, pictures, beads and 
bracelets of glass, knives, sizars, and all manner of 
gaudy toys and knacks for children, which are light 
and portable. For they are apt to admire such trin- 
kets, and will purchase them at any rate, either with 
their currant coyn of small shells, which they call 
roanoack or peack, or perhaps with pearl, vermilion, 
pieces of christal ; and towards Ushery, with some 
odde pieces of plate or buillon, which they sometimes 
receive in truck from the Oestacks. 

Could I have foreseen when I, set out, the advan- 
tages to be made by a trade with those remote In- 
dians, I had gone better provided; though perhaps 
I might have run a great hazard of my life, had I pur- 



Discoveries of John Lederer 171 

chased considerably amongst them, by carrying 
wealth unguarded through so many different nations 
of barbarous people: therefore it is vain for any man 
to propose to himself, or undeitake a trade at that 
distance, unless he goes with strength to defend, as 
well as an adventure to purchase such commodities: 
for in such a design many ought to joyn and go in 
company. 

Some pieces of silver unwrought I purchased my 
self of the Usheries, for no other end than to justifie 
this account I give of my second expedition, which 
had not determined at Ushery, were I accompanied 
with half a score resolute youths that would have 
stuck to me in a further discovery towards the Span- 
ish mines. 



IV 

Governor Berkeley as a Promoter of Explor- 
ation 

Letter of Sir William Berkeley to Lord Arlington, May 

27, 1669 
Letter of Thomas Ludwell to Lord Arlington, June 27, 1670 
Letter of Sir William Berkeley to the committee for trade 

and plantations, January 22, 167 1/2 



Governor Berkeley as a Promoter of 
Exploration 

Letter* of Sir William Berkeley to Lord Arlington 
May 21, i66q 

My most honord Lord"" I did this last spring 
resolve to make an Essay to doe his Majestie a mem- 
orable service which was in the Company of Two 
hundred Gent who had engaged to goe along with 
me to find out the East India sea, and we had hopes 
that in our Journy we should have found some Mines 
of silver; for certaine it is that the Spaniard in the 
same degrees of latitude has found many But my 
Lord unusual and continued Raynes hindred my in- 
tentions nor can I in reason be sorry for it thoughe I 
am of that age that requires that very little time 
should be mispent Yet I considered since; that 
thoughe the motives to this voyage were only ardent 
Intentions to doe his Majestie service Yet I had not 
his Majestie Comission to Justify so bold an under- 
taking to this I added the memory of the misfortune 
of Sir Walter Rawleigh. But my Lord if his Majes- 

* Colonial Papers, Public Record Office, vol. xxiv ; Winder Papers, Vir- 
ginia State Library, vol. i, 252. 

1*0 This letter is here printed, as the heading indicates, from a tran- 
script made in Richmond of the transcript in the Winder Papers in the 
Virginia State Library. It has also been printed in the Virginia Magazine 
of History and Biography, vol. xix, 258-260. 



176 Trans-Allegheny Region 

tie be pleased I shal prosecute this desinge and wil 
send me his comission to doe it I shall this next spring 
goe with such a strength that shal secure me against 
al opposition whether of the Spaniards or Indians 
and my Lord if we meet with the Spaniards it will be 
in those Degrees of latitude which his Majestic Pre- 
decessors have claymd thes foure score yeares and 
more my Lord. 

My lord the Gent that brings you this letter is one 
that has long liv'd in this country and with many of 
his owne Regiment resolvd to accompany me in this 
Expedition he is as understanding a man as can be 
expected from one as has spent most of his time in a 
desert and if his Majestic please to divert himselfe by 
Asking questions of the nature posture and condition 
of his Collony I doubt not but he wil give his Majes- 
tic ful satisfaction this Gent who is cald Coll 
Parkes I have desired to waite on your Lords for 
your letter and comands which I beseech you to let 
him have for every line of your lordships I lay up in 
my hart as an additional honor my lord I am Your 
Lordships most humble and most obedient servant. 

[sign'd] Will Berkeley. 
May 27, 1669, Virginia. 

By this Mappe * it should seeme that this Expedi- 
tion is supposd more jaule [jolly] and easy than I 
beleeve we shal find it. 

[Indorsed: Virginia, Wm. Berkeley, May 27 69. 
If his Majesty please that hee renew his attempt to 
find out ye E. Ind: sea hee desires a Commander for 
it refers your Lordship to ye bearer.] 

* This map has not been found. 



Governor Berkeley as a Promoter 177 

Letter * of Thomas Ludwell to Lord Arlington ^^^ 

Virginia June 27th, 1670. 
Right Honorable : In my last I sent the account 
of the 2S. per hogshead and in this you will receave 
the account of the leavy in tobacco to which I have at 
present little to adde which is that on the 22th of May 
last the Governour sent out a party of men to discover 
the mountaines who retourned after eighteen dayes, 
twelve of which were goeing and six retourning 
theire discovery was not soe considerable as to 
trouble your Lordship with the perticulars of it only 
this that after four or five daies travaile over the 
mountaines they were taken up by a river of (as they 
guesse) four hundred and fifty yards wide very rapid 
and full of rocks running soe farr as they could see it 
due north between the hills the banks whereof were 
in most places according to theire computacon nere 
one thousand yards high and soe broken that they 
could not coast it to give a more ample account of its 
progresse the mountaines they passed were high 
and rocky and soe grown with wood as gave them 
great difficulty to passe them, but from the last they 
were on which was at the river before mencond, they 
judged them selves with in ten miles of other hills bar- 
ren and naked of wood full of broken white cliffs be- 
yond which (soe long as they staid) they every morn- 
ing saw a fogg arise and hand in the aire till ten a 
clock from whence we doe conjecture that those 

* Colonial Papers, Public Record Office, vol. xxv, no. 40. 

1*1 This is a narrative of the expedition headed by Major Harris, and 
should be read in connection with Lederer's account of it [second expedi- 
tion, first part]. 



178 Trans- Allegheny Region 

fogg arise either from morasse grounds or some great 
lake or river to which those mountaines give bounds 
and there we doe suppose will be the end of our la- 
bour in some happy discovery which we shall attempt 
in the end of somer with provisions to passe the river 
as allsoe to try for mines, being yet very confident that 
the bowells of those barren hills are not without silver 
or gold, and that there are rivers falling the other way 
in to the sea as well as this to the east, I heartyly 
pray wee may discover what may be satisfactory to 
his Majestic and for the honnor and wealth of his 
kingdome; My Lord I humbly thanke you for all 
your favors and doe beg your beliefe that I am with 
my whole heart My Lord your Lordships most obe- 
dient humble servant. Tho: Ludwell. 
Endorsed: Virginia June 27th, 70. Mr. Ludwell. 

Letter* of Sir William Berkeley to the Committee 
for Trade and Plantations, January 22, l6jl /2 

My Lords: By my Brother Culpeper I gave your 
Lordships an Account of this place according to your 
Lordships commands and hope it came safely and 
timely to your Lordships hands. 

My Lords in that letter I intimated to your Lord- 
ships how greate a want we had of some men skilful 
in the Making of silke and humbly desird your Lord- 
ships to procure his Majesties Royal Commands to 
the Consuls of Naples and Sicily to send some into 
England We wil beare the charge of their transport 
and Annual Wages as soone as they shal arrive in 
England And I doe now againe humbly desire your 

* Colonial Papers, Public Record Office, vol. xxviii, no. 6. 



Governor Berkeley as a Promoter 179 

Lordships to move his Maiesty in it for my Lords if 
we had but six able men that would teach us the right 
way of feeding Wormes and Winding Silke we 
should in a short time Make an unexpected progresse 
in it. 

My Lords by the last shipps I hope to give yours 
Lordships an account of a happy discovery to the 
West But I dare not much boast of it til I have 
beene an Eie witnesse of it my selfe which I entend 
god willing to be after some Discoverers which I 
send out this next February shal come backe 

My Lords I beseech you honor me with what com- 
mands you find necessary for his sacred Majesties 
service; and they shall be faithfully Executed by My 
Lords Your Lordships most humble and obedient 
servant Will: Berkeley. 

Jan. 22, 1671/2, Virginia 
Endorsed : January 22th, 1671/2. A Letter from the 

Governor of Virginia received the [torn away]. 



V 

The Expedition of Batts and Fallam 

John Clayton's Transcript of the Journal of Robert Fallam 
Extract from a letter of John Clayton to the Royal Society, 

August 17, 1688 
John Mitchell's "Remarks on the Journal of Batts and Fal- 
lam" 



The Expedition of Batts and Fallam 

John Clayton s Transcript of the Journal of Robert 

Fallam 

A Journal from Virginia, beyond the Apailachian moun- 
tains, in Sept. 1671. Sent to the Royal Society by Mr. 
Clayton, and read Aug, i, 1688, before the said Society ^*^ 



142 Xwo copies were made of Fallam's journal, one by the Reverend 
John Clayton, the other for Dr. Daniel Coxe, designated herein, for con- 
venience, as the Clayton and Coxe copies, respectively. The Coxe copy was 
sent to the home government by Dr. Coxe in March, 1687, probably in con- 
nection with one of his colonial schemes, in pursuit of which he fairly 
deluged the Lords of Trade with documents, year after year, and is in 
Public Record Office, Colonial Papers, vol. xxvii, no. 42, and printed in the 
Ne'w York Colonial Documents, vol. iii, 193 et seq. It is in the third per- 
son throughout, with many minor alterations and omissions, the former 
chiefly designed to make it more intelligible to British readers. The sig- 
nificant variations will be noted in their places. 

The Clayton copy was made in Virginia at some time between 1684 and 
1686, during which time the Reverend John Clayton, was rector at James- 
town [William and Mary Quarterly, vol. xv, 235]. It was sent by him to 
the Royal Society, of which he was a member, while he was "rector of 
Crofton at Wakefield in Yorkshire" [Miscellanea Curiosa (London, 1727), 
vol. iii, 336], and read before them in Aug., 1688. Three other letters 
from Clayton to the Royal Society and bearing on Virginia are printed in 
the Miscellanea Curiosa, and reprinted in Force, Tracts, vol. iii, no. 12. 

The journal as copied by Clayton is in the Royal Society Guard Books, 
7, part I [Andrews and Davenport, Guide to Ms. Materials for History of 
U.S. to 1783 in British Museum, etc.^. It is also in British Museum, vol. 
4432, entitled "Papers Relating to the Royal Society," and was copied there- 
from by Bushnell and printed in the American Anthropologist, vol. ix, 45- 
56; from which the present version is printed. The Clayton copy is also 
printed in Fernow, Ohio Valley in Colonial Days (Albany, 1890), 220-229^ 
from the Sparks collection in Har\'ard Library. It is reprinted from Fer- 
now, without credit, in the JVilliam and Mary Quarterly, vol. xv, 234-241. 



184 Trans- Allegheny Region 

Thomas B^tts,"^ Thomas Woods and Robert Fal- 
lows ^" having received a commission from the hon- 
ourable Major General Wood for the finding out the 
ebbing and flowing of the Waters on the other side of 
the Mountaines in order to the discovery of the South 
Sea accompanied with Penecute a great man of the 
Apomatack Indians and Jack Weason, formerly a ser- 
vant to Major General Wood with five horses set for- 
ward from the Apomatacks town about eight of the 
clock in the morning, being Friday Sept. i, 1671. That 
day we "^ traveled above forty miles, took up our 
quarters and found that we had traveled from the 
Okenechee path due west. 

Sept. 2. we traveled about forty-five miles and 
came to our quarters at Sun set and found we were to 
the north of the West. 

Sept. J. we traveled west and by south and about 
three o'clock came to a great swamp a mile and a half 
or two miles over and very difficult to pass, we led 
our horses thro' and waded twice over a River empty- 
ing itself in Roanoake River. After we were over we 
went northwest and so came round and took up our 

143 Xhomas Batts [Batt, Batte] was in Virginia as early as 1667. He 
was son of John Batts and grandson of Robert Batts, fellow and vicar- 
master of University College, Oxford. With his brother Henry, to whom 
Beverley ascribes the leadership of the present expedition, he patented five 
thousand, eight hundred, seventy-eight acres of land in the Appomattox Val- 
ley, August 29, 1668. Henry Batts was burgess for Charles City County 
in 1691. Thomas Batts died in 1698, and his will is on record in Henrico 
County. Neill, Virginia Carolorum, index s. <v. "Batt," and especially page 
327; Calendar State Papers, Colonial, America and West Indies, 1689-1692, 
no. 1408 ; Bruce, Economic History of Virginia, vol. i, 482, vol. ii, 164. 

^** In every copy of this journal other than that in the Anthropologist, 
and in Wood's letter, the name is "Fallam," and this is undoubtedly correct. 

145 "Yhc third person is used here and throughout the copy in the New 
York Documents. 



Expedition of Baits and Fallam 185 

quarters west. This day we traveled forty miles good. 

Sept 4. We set forward and about two of the clock 
arriv'd at the Sapiny * Indian town. We travelled 
south and by west course till about even[ing] and 
came to the Saponys west. Here we were very joy- 
fully and kindly received with firing of guns and 
plenty of provisions. We here hired a Sepiny Indian 
to be our guide towards the Teteras,'" a nearer way 
than usual. 

Sept. 5. Just as we were ready to take horse and 
march from the Sapiny's about seven of the clock in 
the Morning we heard some guns go off from the 
other side of the River. They were siven Apoma- 
tack Indians sent by Major General Wood to accom- 
pany us in our Voyage. We hence sent back a horse 
belonging to Mr. Thomas Wood, which was tired, by 
a Portugal, belonging to Major General Wood, whom 
we here found. '*^ About eleven of the clock we set 
forward and that night came to the town of the Han- 
athaskies which we judge to be twenty-five miles 
from the Sapenys, they are lying west and by north 
in an Island on the Sapony River,"^ rich Land. 

Sept. 6. About eleven of the clock we set forward 
from the Hanathaskies; but left Mr. Thomas Wood 
at the town dangerously sick of the Flux, and the horse 
he rode on belonging to Major General Wood was 
likewise taken with the staggers and a failing in his 
hinder parts. Our course was this day West and by 

* "Sapong" throughout in the Neiu York Colonial Documents. 
146 "Tolera" throughout in Neixi York Colonial Documents. 
^^ Nezv York Colonial Documents: "One of their horses being tired 
they sent him back." 

^*^ This is the Staunton River. 



1 86 Trans- Allegheny Region 

South and we took up our quarters West about twenty 
miles from the town. This afternoon our horses 
stray'd away about ten of the clock."^ 

Sept. 7. We set forward, about three of the clock 
we had sight of the mountains, we travelled tvventy- 
five miles over very hilly and stony Ground our 
course westerly. 

Sept. 8. We set out by sunrise and Travelled all 
day a west and by north course. About one of the 
clock we came to a Tree mark'd in the past with a coal 
M.A N I. About four of the clock we came to the 
foot of the first mountain went to the top and then 
came to a small descent, and so did rise again and then 
till we came almost to the bottom was a very steep 
descent. We travelled all day over very stony, rocky 
ground and after thirty miles travill this day we came 
to our quarters at the foot of the mountains due west. 
We past the Sapony River twice this day. 

Sept. Q. We were stirring with the Sun and tra- 
velled west and after a little riding came again to the 
Supany River where it was very narrow, and ascended 
the second mountain which wound up west and by 
south with several springs and fallings, after which 
we came to a steep descent at the foot whereof was a 
lovely descending Valley about six miles over with 
curious small risings. . .^^^ Our course over it was 
southwest. After we were over that, we came to a very 
steep descent, at the foot whereof stood the Tetera 
Town ^" in a very rich swamp between a branch 

149 jv^^ York Colonial Documents: t^vo of their horses strayed. 
'5**iVf«iu York Colonial Documents: read in the hiatus "sometimes indif- 
ferent good way, their course etc." 
151 Near Salem, Va. 



Expedition of Baits and Fallam 187 

and the main River of Roanoke circled about with 
mountains. We got thither about three of the clock 
after we had travelled twenty-five miles. Here we 
were exceedingly civilly entertain'd. 

l^Sept. g-ll.l Saturday night, Sunday and moi- 
day we staid at the Toteras. Perceute being taken 
very sick of a fever and ague every afternoon, not 
w^ithstanding on tuesday morning about nine of the 
clock we resolved to leave our horses with the Toteras 
and set forward. ^^" 

Sept. 12. We left the town West and by North we 
travell'd that day sometimes southerly, sometimes 
westerly as the path went over several high mountains 
and steep Vallies crossing several branches and the 
River Roanoke several times all exceedingly stony 
ground until about four of the clock Perceute being 
taken with his fit and verry weary we took up our 
quarters by the side of Roanoke River almost at the 
head of it at the foot of the great mountain. Our 
course was west by north, having travill'd twenty- 
five miles. At the Teteras we hired one of their In- 
dians for our Guide and left one of the Apomatock 
Indians there sick.^"^ 

Sept. I ^y^^ In the morning we set forward early. 
After we had travelled about three miles we came to 
the foot of the great mountain and found a very steep 
ascent so that we could scarse keep ourselves from 
sliding down again. It continued for three miles with 

^^"^ Neiv York Colonial Documents: this sentence does not appear; the 
information condensed into the entries for Sept. 9 and 12. 

153 ^^in, York Colonial Documents: the entry for Sept. 12 is paraphrased 
and the last sentence omitted. 

^^^Nenv York Colonial Documents: omit the first sentence of this entry 
and state that the mountain was reached "after a mile's travel." 



1 88 Trans- Allegheny Region 

small intermissions of better way. right up by the 
path on the left we saw the proportions of the mon.'"^ 
[whereof they have given an account it seems in a 
former relation which I have not. - Note by Mr. 
Clayton]. When we were got up to the Top of the 
mountain and set down very weary we saw very high 
mountains lying to the north and south as far as we 
could discern. Our course up the mountain was west 
by north. A very small descent on the other side and 
as soon as over we found the vallies tending westerl3^ 
It was a pleasing tho' dreadful sight to see the moun- 
tains and Hills as if piled one upon another. After 
we had travelled about three miles from the moun- 
tains, easily descending ground about twelve of the 
clock we came to two trees mark'd with a coal MA 
NI. the other cut in with MA and several other 
scratchments. 

Hard by a Run just like the swift creek at Mr. Ran- 
dolph's in Virginia/^'' emptying itself sometimes west- 
erly sometimes northerly with curious meadows on 
each [side]. Going forward we found rich ground 
but having curious rising hills and brave meadows 
with grass about man's bight, many rivers running 
west-north-west and several Runs from the southerly 
mountains which we saw as we march'd, which run 
northerly into the great River. After we had travelled 
about seven miles we came to a very steep descent 

'^^^ Neiv York Colonial Documents: omit this sentence. 

156 ^r^<jy York Colonial Documents: "a pretty swift small current." The 
stream referred to is Swift Creek, which empties into the Appomattox near 
Petersburp, and which in 1670 was called "Randolph's River." Augustine 
Herman, Afap of Virginia and Maryland (London, 1670), in Virginia and 
Maryland Boundary Report, 1873. 



Expedition of Baits and Fallam 189 

where are found a great Run,'" which emptied itself 
so we supposed into the great River northerly, our 
course being as the path went, west-south-west. We 
set forward west and had not gone far but we met 
again with the River, still broad running west and by 
north. We went over the great run emptying itself 
northerly into the great River. After we had 
marched about six miles northwest and by north we 
came to the River again where it was much broader 
than at the two other places. It ran here west and by 
south and so as we suppose round up westerly. Here 
we took up our quarters, after we had waded over, for 
the night. Due west, the soil, the farther we went 
[is] the richer and full of bare meadows and old 
fields. '^'^ ["Old fields" is a common expression for 
land that has been cultivated by the Indians and left 
fallow, which are generally overrun with what they 
call broom grass. - Mr. Clayton.] 

Sept. 14. We set forward before sunrise our pro- 
visions being all spent we travel'd as the path went 
sometimes westerly sometimes southerly over good 
ground but stony, sometimes rising hills and then 
steep Descents as we march'd in a clear place at the 
top of a hill we saw lying south west a curious pros- 
pect of hills like waves raised by a gentle breese of 
wind rising one upon another. Mr. Batts supposed 
he saw sayles; but I rather think them to be white 

15T Xhis "great run" was really the New River and identical with their 
"great river." That they realized this is shown by the second sentence 
following and by the last words of the entry for Sept. 14. 

158 This paragraph varies greatly in the Neiu York Colonial Documents, 
apparently due to a desire of the transcriber to make the geography clearer. 
But his version is not any more understandable and is probably incorrect. 



190 Trans- Allegheny Region 

clifts."° We marched about twenty miles this day 
and about three of the clock we took up our quarters 
to see if the Indians could kill us some Deer, being 
west and by north, very weary and hungry and Per- 
ceute continued very ill yet desired to go forward. 
We came this day over several brave runs and hope 
tomorrow to see the main River again. 

Sept. 75. Yesterday in the afternoon and this day 
we lived a Dog's life - hunger and ease. Our Indians 
having done their best could kill us no meat. The 
Deer they said were in such herds and the ground so 
dry that one or other of them could spy them. About 
one of the clock we set forward and went about fifteen 
miles over some exceedingly good, some indifferent 
ground, a west and by north course till we came to a 
great run that empties itself west and by north as we 
suppose into the great River which we hope is nigh 
at hand. As we march'd we met with some wild 
gooseberries and exceeding large haws w^ith which we 
were forced to feed ourselves. 

Sept 16. Our guides went from us yesterday and 
we saw him no more till we returned to the Toras^" 
Our Indians went aranging betimes to see and kill us 
some Deer or meat. One came and told us they heard 
a Drum and a Gun go off to the northwards. They 
brought us some exceedingly good Grapes and killed 
two turkies which were very welcome and with which 
we feasted ourselves and about ten of the clock set 

180 jv^ij^ York Colonial Documents: "Mr. Batts supposed he saw houses, 
but Mr. Fallam rather tooke them to be white cliffs . . ." This sen- 
tence shows that Fallam wrote the journal. 

101 This sentence is in Neiu York Colonial Documents put under the 
entry for Sept. 15. 



Expedition of Baits dnd Fallam 191 

forward and after we had travelled about ten miles 
one of our Indians killed us a Deer and presently 
afterwards we had sight of a curious River like Apa- 
matack River/"" Its course here was north and so as 
we suppose runs west about certain curious mountains 
we saw westward. Here we had up our quarters, our 
course having been west. We understand the Mohe- 
can "^ Indians did here formerly live. It cannot be 
long since for we found corn stalks in the ground. 

Sept. I J. Early in the morning we went to seek 
some trees to mark our Indians being impatient of 
longer stay by reason it was like to be bad weather, 
and that it was so difficult to get provisions. We 
found four trees exceeding fit for our purpose that 
had been half bared by our Indians, standing after 
one the other. We first proclaimed the King in these 
words : "Long live Charles the Second, by the grace 
of God King of England, Scotland, France, Ireland 
and Virginia and of all the Territories thereunto be- 
longing, Defender of the faith etc." firing some guns 
and went to the first tree which we marked thus /^ 
with a pair of marking irons for his sacred c R. 
majesty. 

Then the next \/\5 for the right honourable 
Governor Sir William Berkley, the third thus f\J\j 
for the honourable Major General Wood. The last 
thus : ~\ : RF. P. for Perceute who said he would 
learn Englishman.'"* And on another tree hard by 

162^^^ Yorh Colonial Documents: "the Thames agt Chelcey." 
163 Neiv York Colonial Documents: "Mohetans." The sentence is trans- 
posed and paraphrased. 

i^i Ne<w York Colonial Documents: "P for Perecute who said he would 
be an Englishman." 



192 Trans- Allegheny Region 

stand these letters one under another '^^ TT. NP. VE. 
R after we had done we went ourselves down to 
the river side ; but not without great difficulty it being 
a piece of very rich ground where on the Moketans '°^ 
had formerly lived, and grown up with weeds and 
small prickly Locusts and Thistles to a very great 
height that it was almost impossible to pass. It cost 
us hard labour to get thro'. When we came to the 
River side we found it better and broader than ex- 
pected, much like James River at Col. Stagg's, the 
falls much like these falls. ^" We imagined by the 
Water marks it flows here about three feat. It was 
ebbing Water when we were here. We set up a stick 
by the Water side but found it ebb very slowly. Our 
Indians kept such a hollowing that we durst not 
stay any longer to make further tryal. Immediately 
upon coming to our quarters we returned homewards 
and when we were on the top of a Hill we turned 
about and saw over against us, westerly, over a cer- 
tain delightful hill a fog arise and a glimmering light 
as from water. We supposed there to be a great 
Bay."^ We came to the Toteras Tuesday night where 
we found our horses, and ourselves wel entertain'd. 
We immediately had the news of Mr. Byrd and his 

1" The letters I N are inserted before the rest, in Menu York Colonial 
Documents. 

168 "Mohetans" in Ne^ York Colonial Documents. 

^^'' Neiu York Colonial Documents: "full as broad as the Thames over 
agt Waping, Ye falls, much like the Falls of James River in Virginia." 
On Augustine Herman's map of Va., 1670, an island in the James below 
the falls is called "Staggs He." The Stegg referred to was the uncle of 
William Byrd I. See Byrd, William, JVritings, pp. xiv-xv. The point 
reached by the explorers was Peters' Falls, where the New River breaks 
through Peters' Mountain, near Petersburg, Va. 

^^^NeiJj York Colonial Documents: "Bog." 



Expedition of Baits and Fallam 193 

great company's Discoveries three miles from the 
Tetera's Town. We have found Mohetan Indians 
w^ho having intelligence of our coming were afraid it 
had been to fight them and had sent him to the To- 
tera's to inquire. We gave him satisfaction to the 
contrary and that we came as friends, presented him 
with three or four shots of powder. He told us by our 
Interpreter, that we had [been] from the mountains 
half way to the place they now live at. That the next 
town beyond them lived upon plain level, from 
whence came abundance of salt. That he could in- 
form us no further by reason that there were a great 
company of Indians that lived upon the great Water. 

Sept. 21. After very civil entertainment we came 
from the Toteras and on Sunday morning the 24th 
we came to the Hanahaskies. We found Mr. Wood 
dead and hurried and his horse likewise dead. After 
civil entertainment, with firing of guns at parting 
which is more than usual. 

Sept. 2S. on monday morning we came from 
thence and reached to the Sapony's that night where 
we stayed till Wednesday. 

Sept. 2J. We came from thence they having been 
very courteous to us. At night we came to the Apa- 
matack Town, hungry, wet and weary. 

Oct. I being Sunday morning we arrived at Fort 
Henry. God's holy name be praised for our preser- 
vation.^"' 

^^^ Ne^ York Colonial Documents condense and paraphrase the entries 
Sept. 2i-0ct. I, and read in lieu of the last sentence "C/iristo duce et auspice 
Chris to." 



194 Trans- Allegheny Region 

Extract from a Letter * of Mr. Clayton to the Royal 
Society, read to them October 24, 1688 ^'° 

Wakefield, Aug. 17, 1688. 
My last was the Journal of Thomas Batt, Thomas 
Woods, and Robert Fallam. I know Col. Byrd, that 
is mentioned to have been about that time as far as the 
Toteras. He is one of the intelligentest Gentlemen in 
all Virginia, and knows more of Indian affairs than 
any man in the Country. I discoursed him about the 
River on the other side the Mountains said to ebb and 
flow, which he assured me was a mistake in them, for 
that it must run into a Lake now call'd Petite, which is 
fresh water, for since that time a Colony of the French 
are come down from Canadas, and have seated them- 
selves in the back of Virginia, where Fallam '"^ and 
the rest supposed there might be a Bay, but is a Lake, 
to which they have given the name of Lake Petite 
there being several large lakes betwixt that and Can- 
ada. The French possessing themselves of these 
Lakes, no doubt will in a short time be absolutely 
Masters of the Beaver trade, the greatest number of 

* Supplement to the Letter Books, voL ii, 483. 

i^*^This is one of the three letters of Clayton to the Royal Society regard- 
ing Virginia published in the Miscellanea Curiosa and in Force's Tracts 
[footnote 142]. It is also in the Royal Societj' Transactions, vol. xvii, no. 
206, p. 978, December, 1693. In all these three forms the first sentence, men- 
tioning the Fallam journal, is omitted. The next three sentences are altered 
and transposed, and the statement that Byrd had been as far as the Toteras 
disappears. The present extract is printed in Fernow [footnote 142] 
from the Sparks collection, and in the Anthropologist {vide ibid.), vol. ix, 
54 et seq., just as found herein. We follow a transcript of the original 
manuscript, made originally in London by Miss Agnes C. Laut, but also 
collated for this volume. 

^^1 This sentence remains thus in all the versions. 



Expedition of Baits and Fallam 195 

Beavers being caught there. The Colonel told me 
likewise that the communication of the Lake of Can- 
ada, he was assured, was a mistake, for the River sup- 
posed to come out of it had no communication with 
any of the Lakes, or they with one another, but were 
distinct. 

1 67 1, Sept. I. They travell'd 40 miles from the 
Apomatack's Town. 

2. 45 miles. 

3. 40 miles. 

4. Arrived at Sapiny till two o'clock. 

5. Came to Hanahasky 25 miles from 

Sapiny. 

6. 20 miles. 

7. 25 miles. 

8. Came to the foot of the first moun- 

tain due west, 30 miles 

9. Came to Toteras Town, 25 miles. 

12. Leave Totera and come to the River 

Roanoke, almost at the head, 25 
miles. 

13. 22 miles. 

14. 14 miles. 

15. 15 miles. 

16. 10 and see a large River running 

north. 

17. they proclaim'd K. Ch. 2. 



196 Trans-Allegheny Region 

Remarks * on the Journal of Batts and Fallam; in 

their Discovery of the Western Parts 

of Virginia in l6jl ^" [by John 

Mitchell, M.D., F.R.S.] ^" 

This discovery of Batts and Fallam is well known 
in the history of Virginia, and there is no manner of 
doubt of its being authentic, altho' it has not yet been 
published by the Royal Society. The account given 
of this Discovery by R. B. (Robert Beverley, Esq'., a 
Gentleman of note and distinction in the Countrey, 
who was well acquainted with it and its History) 
agrees very well with this original account of it; 
altho' he is not so particular in describing the place 
that these Discoverers went to, that we may be able to 
fix upon the Spot, which I think we may do from the 
Journal itself, and that from the following considera- 
tions. 

I. The Appamatuck Town, the Place that they 
went from, is well known in Virginia to this day, at 
least the River it stood upon, which is the Southern 
Branch of James River, that is well known by the 
name of Appamattox; and Capt. Smith, who was at 
this Town of Appamatuck, as he calls it, laies it down 
on the River of Appomatox, a little below the Falls, 
opposite to where the Towns of Petersburg or Bland- 
ford now stand; as may be seen by comparing his 

* British Museum, 4432, Papers relating to Royal Society. 

1^2 Printed in Fernow, Ohio Valley in Colonial Days, 230-240, and in the 
Anthropologist, vol. ix, 55 et seg. [footnote 142]. Printed herein from copy 
of the original manuscript made in London by Miss Agnes C. Laut, and 
collated in London. 

'"3 These words are in another hand and blacker ink, but not enclosed 
in brackets in the manuscript. 



Expedition of Batts and Fallam 197 

map of Virginia with our Map of North America.* 

2. From this Town of Appamatuck they set out 
along the Path that leads to Acconeechy, which is an 
Indian Town on the Borders of Virginia and Caro- 
lina, marked in all our Maps; from which path they 
travelled due west. Now you will see both these Roads 
laid down in our Map of North America, and exact- 
ly as they are described in this Journal, they being 
the two Roads that lead from the Falls of Appamat- 
tox River Southward to Carolina, and westward to 
our Settlements on Wood River '^* in Virginia. 

3. This Road that goes to the westward, which was 
the one that our Travellers went, crosses three 
Branches of Roanoke River, a little below the moun- 
tains, just as it is described in the Journal, as may be 
seen by comparing the Journal with our Map above- 
mentioned. This Branch of Roanoke River is called 
Sapony River in the Journal, which has been called 
Staunton River, (in memory of the Lady of the late 
Governor of Virginia) ever since the survey of those 
Parts in running the Boundary Line between Vir- 
ginia and Carolina in 1729. The Sapony and Totera 
Indians mentioned in the Journal were then removed 
farther South, upon the Heads of Pede River, as may 
be seen in the Map of Carolina by Mr. Mosley, one 
of the surveyors in running that Line; and they are 
Now removed to the Southward of that, among the 
Catawbas, as it is well known that all the Indians of 
those Parts have done for many years, in order to pro- 
tect themselves against the Iroquois, who have over- 

*This refers to Mitchell's Map of the British Colonies (1755)- 
17* Vide, footnote 142. 



198 Trans- Allegheny Region 

run all those Parts; and here we find a river that still 
retains the name of Sapony or Johnston River, but a 
great way to the southward of the River mentioned in 
the Journal by that name. 

4. From these Branches of Roanoke River they 
passed over the mountains, and came to a large River 
West of the Mountains, running North and South; 
which plainly appears from this account of it to have 
been what we call Wood River in Virginia, which is 
well known and well settled by our People there, both 
above and below the Place where these People dis- 
covered it; and they frequently pass the Mountains 
now in going to and from Wood River, about the 
same place that is described in the Journal. 

5. Nigh this River they saw from the tops of the 
Mountains an appearance of a water at a distance, like 
a Lake, or arm of the Sea. The same observation is 
made by another Person, Mr. Christopher Gist, who 
lately surveyed this Countrey hereabouts, and indeed 
upon the spots described in the Journal, as appears 
from both their Routes as laid down in our Map 
above-mentioned, which crost one another about the 
Place where these Discoverers fell in with the Great 
River, as they call it. The water seen by Gist was 
known by him to be Wood River a little lower down, 
where it passes a great Ridge of the Mountains that 
lye to the westward. 

6. When they arrived at this River, they were in- 
formed of a numerous and warlike Nation of Indians, 
that lived on the Great Water, and made Salt, the ac- 
counts of whom prevented their going any farther; 
all which is agreeable to the History of those Times. 



Expedition of Batts and Fallam 199 

The Indians they mean were the antient Chawanoes 
or Chaouanons, who lived to the westward and North- 
ward of the Place that these Discoverers were at; and 
were at this Time, 1671, engaged in a hot and bloody- 
war with the Iroquois, in which they were so closely 
pressed at this time, that they were entirely extirpated 
or incorporated with the Iroquois the year following. 
These People might make Salt no doubt, as the pres- 
ent Inhabitants of those Parts do, from the many Salt 
Springs that are found on the Rivers Ohio and Missi- 
sipi. And as for the great water that they lived upon, 
that appears even by name to have been the Missisipi, 
which is so called from Meseha Cebe, two words in 
the Indian Language that signify the Great River or 
Water; so that if we had the Indian name of this 
Great Water, mentioned by our travellers, instead of 
the Interpretation of it in English, it is possible it 
might have been the same with Missisipi; and 
whether or not, the name they give it we see means the 
same thing. 

7. The Distance that these people travelled was 
three hundred and thirty-eight miles, besides what 
they went on the fourth day of their Journey, which 
they do not mention, but by their usual rate of travel- 
ling might be about eighteen or twent}^ miles, which 
makes about three hundred and sixty miles in all, and 
allmost due west. This is much farther to the west- 
ward than we lay down Wood River at present, when 
we have had its true western Distance actually mea- 
sured, in running the Boundary between Virginia and 
Carolina. But it is very probable, as Mr. Beverley 
sales in his History, that these Travellers in passing 



200 Trans-Allegheny Region 

the Mountains in particular might not advance above 
three or four miles a Day in a Strait Course. It has 
been generally found by our Surveyors in the woods 
of America, as I have been told by some of them, and 
as appears indeed from their Surveys compared with 
the Accounts of Travellers, that a true measured dis- 
tance on a strait course is about one third of the usual 
Distance computed by Travellers in the woods, where 
they have no strait Roads and known Distances to 
guide them. Accordingly we find from these Surveys 
of the Countrey, that it is about one hundred and forty 
Miles in a strait course from the Falls of Appomatox 
River to Wood River in Virginia, which is a little 
more than one third of the Distance computed by our 
Discoverers. 

Again; it is an usual way to compute Distances in 
the Woods of America by Dayes journeys, and those 
that are used to it, come pretty nigh the truth, by al- 
lowing twenty-five or thirty Miles a Day according to 
the Road, which makes about ten Miles a Day in a 
strait Course. Now these People travelled fifteen 
Daies, and by this rule must have travelled one hun- 
dred and fifty Miles on a strait Road ; and accordingly 
we find it just one hundred and sixty Miles from the 
Falls of Appomatox River in Virginia, where they 
set out, to Wood River, upon the Road as it is laid 
down in our Map of North America, in which the 
Longitude or western Distances are laid down from 
the late Surveys of those Parts. 

From these several considerations compared to- 
gether, it plainly appears, that the Great River, as 
they call it, which these People discovered on the 



Expedition of Batts and Fallam 201 

West side of the Mountains of Virginia, was this 
Branch of the River Ohio that is well known by the 
name of Wood River ; which is the chief and principal 
Branch of the Ohio, that rises in the Mountains of 
South Carolina, and running through North Carolina 
and Virginia, falls into the Ohio about midway be- 
tween Fort du Quesne and the Missisipi ; and the place 
they discovered it at seems to be about the middle of 
that River; which has alwaies retained the name of 
Wood River, from this Major General Wood, or Col. 
Wood as he is called in Virginia, who we see by the 
Journal was the Author of this Discovery. 

This Journal then is a plain Narration of well 
Known Matters of Fact, relating to the Discoveries of 
those western Parts of Virginia, and that many years 
before any others even pretend to have made any Dis- 
coveries in those or any other of the western Parts of 
North America, beyond the Apalachean Mountains. 
It contains likewise plain Proofs of the other Dis- 
coveries that were made here and hereabouts some 
time before, which were made by one Needham, by 
order of Col. Wood of Virginia; and the inverted 
Letters, MA., NE. found on the trees by our Travel- 
lers, seem to have been the names of these two Persons, 
cut on the Trees as a Memorial of their Discoveries, 
as is usually done by Travellers in the Woods, and as 
we see was done by ours at this Time."' The many 
Letters they found on the Trees on Wood River, are 
likewise plain Proofs of others having been there be- 
fore them. This is a plain confirmation of what is 

175 Mitchell's attempted solution of this puzzle is interesting, but hardly 
correct. 



202 Trans-Allegheny Region 

related by Mr. Coxe '"* in a memorial presented by 
him to King William in 1699, and by several others, 
that all those western Parts of Virginia were dis- 
covered by Col. Wood, in several journies from the 
year 1654 to 1664. 

These Discoveries are the more interesting at this 
Time, as those Parts are now claimed by the French 
merely and solely upon a frivolous Pretext of a prior 
Discovery by Mr. La Salle in 1680; who built the 
Fort of Crevecour on or below the Lake Pimiteoni in 
that year, which seems to be the Lake Petite alluded 
to in the extract of M. Clayton's Letter, from a very 
imperfect knowledge of it; which Lake upon the 
River Illinois is not less perhaps than a thousand 
miles beyond or to the westward of Fort du Quesne 
and the other places the French now claim on the 
River Ohio in consequence of that Discovery as they 
call it. 

Besides M. La Salle had even that Discovery of his, 
that has been so much extolled and magnifyed, from 
the English; who by being so well settled in so many 
Parts of this Continent, might surely very naturally 
conclude and easily know from many accounts of the 
Natives, that there was a very extensive Continent to 
the westward of them; which these Discoveries in 
Virginia, as well as the Travels of Ferdinando Soto 
through Florida and over the Rio Grande, as he calls 
it, or the Missisipi, in 1541, that had been published to 
the world, might give them some more particular ac- 
count of, and excite their curiosity to make farther 
Discoveries in it. Accordingly, in the year 1678, a 

176 History of Carol ana. 



Expedition of Batts and Fallam 203 

Party of People from New-England discovered all 
the western Parts of America to the Northward of 
Virginia, as far as the Missisipi, and a great way be- 
yond it; which Discovery of the English gave occa- 
sion to the Discovery of the same Parts two years 
afterwards, by Mr. La Salle; for the Indians who 
were with the English and served them as Guides in 
this Discovery went to Canada upon their return, and 
gave an Account of these Discoveries of the English 
to the French, who thereupon set out to make the 
same Discovery; by virtue of which they now pre- 
tend to claim nine tenths at least of all the known 
Parts of the Continent of North America, and all the 
rest that is not known, which may be as much more 
by all accounts! ^" 

It is true, our People have not wrote many Histories 
of their Discoveries, as the French have, nor even 
published those that have been wrote, we see, any 
more than the Spaniards; but that we have made 
many such Discoveries, appears best from the Settle- 
ments that we have made, which compared with those 
of the French are about twenty to one. In the year 
1714, immediately ofter the Treaty of Utrecht, Col. 
Spotswoode, Governor of Virginia went over the Apa- 
lachean Mountains himself in Person, in company 
with several Gentlemen of the Countrey, that are and 
have been well known to me, who had a good Road 
cleared over them, and many Settlements were made 
beyond those Mountains soon afterwards, both in the 
Northern and Southern Parts of Virginia, but chiefly 
in the Northern Parts leading towards the Ohio; 

1^^ Mitchell evidentlv is following Coxe's story, see pages 229-247. 



204 Trans-Allegheny Region 

which Settlements extended to Logs Town on the 
River Ohio, long before the late encroachments and 
usurpations of the French there. The English first 
settled on the Ohio from Pennsylvania in the year 
1725, as appears from their Treaty with the Indians 
at Albany in 1754, and many other accounts. In 1736 
those Parts were duely surveyed and laid ofif by a 
company of Surveyors as far as the Head Springs of 
the River Patowmack; and in 1739 or 1740 a Party 
of People were sent out by the Government of Vir- 
ginia, and traversed the whole Countrey, down Wood 
River and the River Ohio, to the Missisipi, and down 
that River to New Orleans ; ''* whose journals I have 
seen and perused, and have made a draught of the 
Countrey from them, and find them agree with other 
and later accounts. About that Time a number of 
People petitioned the Government of Virginia to 
grant them a Settlement upon the River Missisipi 
itself, about the mouth of the River Ohio, which they 
ofifered to maintain and defend, as well as to settle, at 
their own charge, so well were all those western Parts 
of Virginia then known and frequented by our Peo- 
ple; but they were refused this Request by our Gov- 
ernment itself, who have allwaies prudently thought 
it more expedient to continue their Settlements con- 
tiguous to one another, than to suffer them to be strag- 
gling up and down in remote and uncultivated Des- 
arts, as we see the French have done, in order thereby 
to seem to occupy a greater extent of Territory, 
whilst in efi^ect they hardly occupy any at all. Yet we 
are not without many of those Settlements among the 

^'^s Probably Howard and Salley, 1742. Gist, Christopher. Journals. 



Expedition of Baits and Fallam 205 

Indians likewise, and that in a Countrey which we 
have purchased from them three several times. In 
the year 1749 our People made a Settlement among 
the Twightwee Indians at Pickawillany, which is 
reckoned by our Traders five hundred Miles beyond 
Fort du Quesne, to which they were invited by the 
Natives themselves, who came down to Lancaster in 
Pennsylvania for that purpose, and made a Treaty to 
that effect with our People there Jul. 22d., 1749. By 
this means we had several Settlements all along the 
River Ohio, and all over the Countrey between that 
River and Lake Erie, and that long before the French 
ever set a foot upon it, or knew any thing about it, but 
by Hearsay. And on the South Side of the Ohio, we 
are not only well settled on Wood River, that is de- 
scribed in this Journal, but likewise on Holston River 
that lies upwards of one hundred and fifty Miles to 
the westward of the Place that these People dis- 
covered on Wood River in 167 1 ; and again on Cum- 
berland River that lies as much farther to the west- 
ward of that; all which Places and Settlements you 
will see marked in our Map abovementioned. 



VI 

The Journeys of Needham and Arthur 

A Memorandum by John Locke 

Letter of Abraham Wood to John Richards, August 22, 1674 



The Journeys of Needham and Arthur 
A Memorandum * hy John Locke ^^^ 

Virginia corne was worth in September, 74 150 11. 
tobaco per barell the barell contains 5 bushels and 
the tobaco counted worth about 15s. 

The cheapest time to buy corne is Oct. Nov. and 
Dec: which is newly after harvest and he thinks new 
corne then may be worth 100 11. tobaco per barell 
i.e. los. 

The Indian corne requires most labour in planting 
and tillage as 5 to i compard with wheat, and is of a 
courser tast, but nourishes labourers better, and bring 
a far greater increase commonly 50 for one Dry 
seasons after sowing are naught for the Indian corne 
good for wheat wherefor they commonly sowe both, 
soe that when one misses the other hits 

They have 2 sorts of wheat, winter wheat which 
they sowe in September and summer wheat which 
they sowe in March both ripe in June or July. 

The Indian corne they gather in the beginning of 
Octob: 

* Shafte«bury Papers, section 9, bundle 48, no. 83. 

i''9This memorandum is printed in the Calendar of State Papers, 
Colonial, America and West Indies, 1669-1674, no. 1428. The original has 
been carefully compared with Locke's handwriting and it is undoubtedly 
genuine. 



2IO Trans-Allegheny Region 

Major Generall Wood liveth in the most south west 
part of Virginia, about 60 miles from ye mountains 
upon Apomatock river, which falls into James river 
and ye chanell of it lies from James river south. 

Mr. Richards.''" 
Endorsed: Virginia, Husbandry. 

Letter ^^^ of Abraham Wood to John Richards 
August 22, 1674 

To my Honoured Frend, Mr. John Richards in Lon- 
don, present. 
That I have been att ye charge to the value of two 
hundered pounds starling in ye discovery to ye south 
or west sea Declaro: and what my indevors were in 
two yeares you was made sencible of by ye handes of 
Thomas Batt and Robert Fallam in part: att my owne 
charge ye effects of this present yeare I am now to 
give you an account of in as much brevitie as I can. 
About ye loth of Aprill : 1673 : I sent out two English 
men and eight Indians, with accommidation for three 

'^^° John Richards, Wood's friend and the recipient of his letter, describ- 
ing the explorations of 1673/4, was appointed by the Lords Proprietors of 
Carolina as their "Treasurer, and Agent in matters relating to their joint 
carrying on of that Plantation," in room of the late Peter Jones, December 
4, 1674. Colonial Papers, Amer. and W.I., 1669-1674, no. 1402. He is 
several times mentioned in the series just cited [nos. 901, 1138, 1139] as the 
bearer of letters to Lord Arlington from Colonel Codrington in Barbadoes, 
first on July 27, 1672. He was in Virginia on August 4, 1673 [ibid., no. 
1124]. A letter of October 23, 1673 [ibid., no. 1153] shows him to have 
been a correspondent of John Locke. 

181 From Public Record Office of London, Shaftesbury Papers, section ix, 
bundle 48, no. 94. It is endorsed: "Supposed to be the Carolina colonies 
first journey to Mississippi." Here printed for the first time; from a tran- 
script made in London by Miss Agnes C. Laut but collated for this volume 
in London. The critical discussion of this important document will be 
found almost exclusively in the Introduction rather than in footnotes. The 
names of Indians mentioned were written as a guide in the margin by 
John Locke. These have been omitted. 



Journeys of Needham and Arthur 211 

moneths, but by misfortune and unwillingness of ye 
Indians before the mountaines, that any should dis- 
cover beyond them my people returned effecting little, 
to be short, on ye 17th of May: 1673 I sent them out 
againe, with ye like number of Indians and four 
horses, about ye 25th of June they mett with ye Tom- 
ahitans as they were journying from ye mountains to 
ye Occhonechees. The Tomahaitans told my men that 
if an English man would stay with them they would 
some of them com to my plantation with a letter 
which a eleven of them did accordingly, and about 
fourty of them promised to stay with my men att 
Occhonechee untill ye eleven returned : ye effect of ye 
letter was they resolved by Gods Blessing to goe 
through with ye Tomahitans. ye eleven resolve to stay 
at my house three dayes to rest themselves. I hastned 
away another English man and a horse to Occhone- 
chee to give them intelligence ; but by the extremity of 
raine they could not bee expeeditious, so that through 
ye instigation of ye Occhonechees, and through ye 
doubt they had, as I suppose, of ye miscarrge of theire 
men att my plantations, being soe possest by the other 
Indians, ye Tomihitans went away, and my two men 
with them, and as since I understand ye eleven over 
tooke them, before they came to ye mountains, with 
my letter, which rejoyced ye two English men and one 
Appomattecke Indian for noe more durst to go a long 
with them; they jornied nine days from Occhonechee 
to Sitteree: west and by south, past nine rivers and 
creeks which all end in this side ye mountaines and 
emty them selves into ye east sea. Sitteree being the 
last towne of inhabitance and not any path further 
untill they came within two days jorney of ye Toma- 



212 Trans- Allegheny Region 

hitans; they travell from thence up the mountaines 
upon ye sun setting all ye way, and in foure dayes gett 
to ye toppe, some times leading theire horses sometimes 
rideing. Ye ridge upon ye topp is not above two hun- 
dred paces over; ye decent better then on this side, 
in halfe a day they came to ye foot, and then levell 
ground all ye way, many slashes upon ye heads of 
small runns. The slashes are full of very great canes 
and ye water runes to ye north west. They pass five 
rivers and about two hundred paces over ye fifth being 
ye middle most halfe a mile broad all sandy bottoms, 
with peble stones, all foardable and all empties them- 
selves north west, when they travell upon ye plaines, 
from ye mountaines they goe downe, for severall 
dayes they see straged hilles on theire right hand, as 
they judge two days journy from them, by this time 
they have lost all theire horses but one; not so much 
by ye badness of the way as by hard travell. not have- 
ing time to feed, when they lost sight of those hilles 
they see a fogg or smoke like a cloud from whence 
raine falls for severall days on their right hand as they 
travell still towards the sun setting great store of 
game, all along as turkes deere, ellkes, beare, woolfe 
and other vermin very tame, at ye end of fiftteen dayes 
from Sitteree they arive at ye Tomahitans river, being 
ye 6th river from ye mountains, this river att ye 
Tomahitans towne seemes to run more westerly than 
ye other five. This river they past in cannoos ye town 
being seated in ye other side about foure hundred 
paces broad above ye town, within sight, ye horse 
they had left waded only a small channell swam, they 
were very kindly entertained by them, even to addora- 
tion in their cerrimonies of courtesies and a stake was 



Journeys of Need ham and Arthur 213 

sett up in ye middle of ye towne to fasten ye horse to, 
and aboundance of come and all manner of pulse with 
fish, flesh and beares oyle for ye horse to feed upon 
and a scaffold sett up before day for my two men and 
Appomattocke Indian that theire people might stand 
and gaze at them and not offend them by theire 
throng. This towne is seated on ye river side, haveing 
ye clefts of ye river on ye one side being very high for 
its defence, the other three sides trees of two foot over, 
pitched on end, twelve foot high, and on ye topps 
scafolds placed with parrapits to defend the walls and 
offend theire enemies which men stand on to fight, 
many nations of Indians inhabitt downe this river, 
which runes west upon ye salts which they are att 
warre withe and to that end keepe one hundred and 
fifty cannoes under ye command of theire forte, ye 
leaste of them will carry twenty men, and made 
sharpe at both ends like a wherry for swiftness, this 
forte is foure square; 300: paces over and ye houses 
sett in streets, many homes like bulls homes h^e upon 
theire dunghills, store of fish they have, one sort they 
have like unto stocke - fish cured after that manner. 
Eight dayes jorny down this river lives a w^hite peo- 
ple which have long beardes and whiskers and weares 
clothing, and on some of ye other rivers lives a hairey 
people, not many yeares since ye Tomahittans sent 
twenty men laden with beavor to ye white people, they 
killed tenn of them and put ye other tenn in irons, two 
of which tenn escaped and one of them came with 
one of my men to my plantation as you will under- 
stand after a small time of rest one of my men retumes 
vv^ith his horse, ye Appomatock Indian and 12 Toma- 



214 Trans- Allegheny Region 

hittans, eight men and foure women, one of those eight 
is hee which hath been a prisoner with ye white peo- 
ple, my other man remaines with them untill ye next 
returne to learne ye language, the loth of Septem- 
ber my man with his horse and ye twelve Indians 
arived at my house praise bee to God, ye Tomahitans 
have a bout sixty gunnes, not such locks as oures bee, 
the steeles are long and channelld where ye flints 
strike, ye prisoner relates that ye white people have a 
bell which is six foot over which they ring morning 
and evening and att that time a great number of people 
congregate togather and talkes he knowes not what, 
they have many blacks among them, oysters and 
many other shell-fish, many swine and cattle. Theire 
building is brick, the Tomahittans have a mongest 
them many brass potts and kettles from three gallons 
to thirty, they have two mullato women all ye white 
and black people they take they put to death since 
theire twenty men were barbarously handled. After 
nine dayes rest, my man with ye horse he brought 
home and ye twelve Tomahittans began theire jorny 
ye 20th of September intending, God blessing him, 
at ye spring of ye next yeare to returne with his com- 
ponion att which time God spareing me life I hope to 
give you and some other friends better satisfaction, 
all this I presented to ye Grand Assembly of Vir- 
ginia, but not soe much as one word in answer or any 
encouragement or assistance given. 

The good suckses of ye last jorney by my men per- 
formed gave mee great hopes of a good suckses in ye 
latter for I never heard from nor any thing after I 
employed Mr. James Needham '^^ past from Aeno an 

i**2 por what has been found regarding Needham, see page 79. 



Journeys of Needham and Arthur 215 

Indian towne two dayes jorny beyond Occhoneeche in 
safty but now begins ye tragicall scene of bad hap. 
upon ye 27th of January following I received a fly- 
ing report by some Indians that my men were killd by 
ye Tomahitans pasing over theire river as they were 
returning, now dayly came variable reports of theire 
miscarige. All Indians spake darkly to hide ye 
trueth from being discoverd for feare ye guilt of ye 
mourder would be layd upon them selves. I sent an 
other man out to inquire what might bee found out 
of truth in ye buisness, but before his return upon ye 
25th of February came one Henry Hatcher an Eng- 
lish man, to my house which had been att Occhone- 
chee a tradeing with them Indians, and tells me that 
my man I last sent out was stopt there by ye Occhene- 
chees from goeing any further untill Hattcher par- 
swaded them to lett my man pas, which they did ac- 
cordingly, this Hatcher further tould me that Mr. 
James Needham was certainly killd att his goeing 
out, but by whome he knew not, but as ye Occhone- 
chees said by the Tomahittans that went with him, 
but said Hatcher I saw ye Occhonechees Indian 
knowne by ye name of John, a fatt thick blufif faced 
fellow, have Mr. James Needhams pistolls and gunn 
in his hande, as the Indian him selfe tould Hatcher. 
This Indian John by his Indian name is calld Hase- 
coll, now you are to note that this Indian John was 
one that went with Mr. James Needham and my man 
Gabriell Arthur att ye first to ye Tomahitans and re- 
turned with Mr. James Needham to my house where 
he ye said John received a reward to his content and 
a greed with me to goe a gaine with him. and indeav- 
our his protextion to ye Tomahittans and to return 



2i6 Trans-Allegheny Region 

with Mr. James Needham and my man to my house 
ye next spring and to that end receved halfe his pay 
in hand. Ye rest hee was to receve at his returne. 
My poore man Gabriell Artheur all this while ecap- 
tivated all this time in a strange land, where never 
English man before had set foote, in all likelihood 
either slaine, or att least never likely to returne to see 
ye face of an English man, but by ye great providence 
and protection of God allmighty still survives which 
just God will not suffer just and honest indevors to 
fall quite to ye ground. Mauger ye deivill and all 
his adherents, Well, shall now give a relation, what 
my man hath discovered in all ye time that Mr. James 
Needham left him att ye Tomahitans to ye i8th of 
June 74. which was ye daye Gabriell arived att my 
house in safety with a Spanish Indian boy only, with 
difficulty and hasard and how Mr. James Needham 
came to his end by ye hands of the barbarious roge 
Indian John that had undertaken his protection and 
safety and as breife as I can give a touch upon ye 
heads of ye materaall matter my mans memory could 
retain, for he cannot write ye greater pity, for should 
I insert all ye particulars it would swell to too great a 
vollume and perhaps seeme too tedeous to ye courte- 
ous and charitable Reader soe I begg pardon for 
ignorant erors, and shall againe come to Mr. Need- 
hams, where wee left him. from Aeno hee journied 
to Sarrah, with his companions ye Tomahitons and 
John ye Occhoenechee accompanied with more of his 
country men which was to see ye tragady acted as I 
suppose, it happened as they past Sarrah river an 
Indian lett his pack slip into ye water whether on pur- 



Journeys of Needham and Arthur 217 

pose or by chance I canot judge, upon this some words 
past betwine Needham and ye Indian. Ochenechee 
Indian John tooke up Mr. Needham very short in 
words and soe continued scoulding all day untill they 
had past ye Yattken towne and soe over Yattken river, 
not far from ye river Mr. Needham alighted it not 
being far from the foot of ye mountaines, and there 
tooke up theire quarters. Still Indian John continued 
his wailing and threating Mr. Needham tooke up a 
hatchet which lay by him, haveing his sword by him 
threw ye hatchet on ye ground by Indian John and 
said what John are you minded to kill me. Indian 
John imediately catched up a gunn, which hee him 
selfe had carried to kill meat for them to eate and 
shot Mr. Needham neare ye burr of ye eare and killd 
him not withstanding all ye Tomahittans started up to 
rescue Needham but Indian John was to quick for 
them, soe died this heroyick English man whose fame 
shall never die if my penn were able to eternize it 
which had adventured where never any English man 
had dared to atempt before and with him died one 
hundered f orty-f oure pounds starling of my adventure 
with him. I wish I could have saved his life with 
ten times ye vallue. Now his companions ye Toma- 
hittans all fell a weepeing and cried what shall wee 
doe now you have killd ye English man wee shall be 
cutof by ye English. Indian John drew out his knife 
stept acrosse ye corpes of Mr. Needham, ript open his 
body, drew out his hart, held it up in his hand and 
turned and looked to ye eastward, toward ye English 
plantations and said hee vallued not all ye English. 
Ye Tomahittans reployed, how dare you doe this, 



21 8 Trans- Allegheny Region 

wee are all afraid of ye English. Indian John re- 
ployed he was paid for what he had done and had 
receved his rewarde and then laid a command upon 
ye Tomahittans that they should dispatch and kill ye 
English man which Needham had left att ye Toma- 
hittans and immediately opened the packs tooke what 
goods he pleased, soe much as Needham's horse could 
carry and soe returned backe. 

Now wee returne backe to my man Gabriell Ar- 
ther. Ye Tomahittans hasten home as fast as they 
can to tell ye newes ye King or chife man not being 
att home, some of ye Tomahittans which were great 
lovers of ye Occheneechees went to put Indian Johns 
command in speedy execution and tied Gabriell Ar- 
ther to a stake and laid heaps of combustible canes 
a bout him to burne him, but before ye fire was put 
too ye King came into ye towne with a gunn upon his 
shoulder and heareing of ye uprore for some was with 
it and some a gainst it. ye King ran with great speed 
to ye place, and said who is that that is goeing to put 
fire to ye English man. a Weesock borne started up 
with a fire brand in his hand said that am I. Ye 
King forthwith cockt his gunn and shot ye wesock 
dead, and ran to Gabriell and with his knife cutt ye 
thongs that tide him and had him goe to his house 
and said lett me see who dares touch him and all ve 
wesocks children they take are brought up with them 
as ye lanesaryes are a mongst ye Turkes. this king 
came to my house upon ye 21th of June as you will 
heare in ye following discouerse. 

Now after ye tumult was over they make prepara- 
tion for to manage ye warr for that is ye course of 



Journeys of Needham and Arthur 219 

theire liveing to forage robb and spoyle other nations 
and the king commands Gabriell Arther to goe along 
with a party that went to robb ye Spanyarrd, promis- 
ing him that in ye next spring hee him selfe would 
carry him home to his master. Gabriell must now 
bee obedient to theire commands, in ye deploreable 
condition hee was in was put in armes, gun, toma- 
hauke, and targett and soe marched a way with ye 
company, beeing about fifty, they travelled eight 
days west and by south as he guest and came to a town 
of negroes, spatious and great, but all wooden build- 
ings Heare they could not take any thing without 
being spied. The next day they marched along by ye 
side of a great carte path, and about five or six miles 
as he judgeth came within sight of the Spanish town, 
walld about with brick and all brick buildings within. 
There he saw ye steeple where in hung ye bell which 
Mr. Needham gives relation of and harde it ring in 
ye eveing. heare they dirst not stay but drew of 
and ye next morning layd an ambush in a convenient 
place neare ye cart path before mentioned and there 
lay allmost seven dayes to steale for theire sustenance. 
Ye 7th day a Spanniard in a gentille habitt, accout- 
ered with gunn, sword and pistoll. one of ye Tom- 
ahittans espieing him att a distance crept up to ye 
path side and shot him to death. In his pockett were 
two pices of gold and a small gold chain, which ye 
Tomahittans gave to Gabriell, but hee unfourtunate- 
ly lost it in his venturing as you shall heare by ye 
sequell. Here they hasted to ye negro town where 
they had ye advantage to meett with a lone negro. 
After him runs one of the Tomahittans with a dart in 



220 Trans- Allegheny Region 

his hand, made with a pice of ye blaide of Needhams 
sworde, and threw it after ye negro, struck him 
thrugh betwine his shoulders soe hee fell downe dead. 
They tooke from him some toys, which hung in his 
eares, and bracelets about his neck and soe returned 
as expeditiously as they could to theire owne homes. 

They rested but a short time before another party 
was commanded out a gaine and Gabrielle Arther 
was comanded out a gaine, and this was to Porte 
Royall, Here hee refused to goe saying those were 
English men and he would not fight a gainst his own 
nation, he had rather be killd. The King tould him 
they intended noe hurt to ye English men, for he had 
promised Needham att his first coming to him that 
he would never doe violence a gainst any English 
more but theire buisness was to cut off a town of In- 
dians which lived neare ye English, I but said Gabri- 
ell what if any English be att that towne, a trading, 
ye King sware by ye fire which they adore as theire 
god they would not hurt them soe they marched a way 
over ye mountains and came upon ye head of Portt 
Royall river in six days. There they made perriaug- 
ers of bark and soe past down ye streame with much 
swiftness, next coming to a convenient place of land- 
ing they went on shore and marched to ye eastward 
of ye south, one whole day and parte of ye night. At 
lengeth they brought him to ye sight of an English 
house, and Gabriell with some of the Indians crept 
up to ye house side and lisening what they said, they 
being talkeing with in ye house, Gabriell hard one 
say, pox take such a master that will not alow a ser- 
vant a bit of meat to eate upon Christmas day, by 



Journeys of Needham and Arthur 221 

that meanes Gabriell knew what time of ye yeare it 
was, soe they drew of secretly and hasten to ye Indian 
town, which was not above six miles thence, about 
breake of day stole upon ye towne. Ye first house 
Gabriell came too there was an English man. Hee 
hard him say Lord have mercy upon mee. Gabriell 
said to him runn for thy life. Said hee which way 
shall I run. Gabriell reployed, which way thou wilt 
they will not meddle with thee. Soe hee rann and 
ye Tomahittans opend and let him pas cleare there 
they got ye English mans snapsack with beades, 
knives and other petty truck in it. They made a very 
great slaughter upon the Indians and a bout sun rise- 
ing they hard many great guns fired ofif amongst the 
English. Then they hastened a way with what speed 
they could and in less then fourteene dayes arived att 
ye Tomahittns with theire plunder. 

Now ye king must goe to give ye monetons a visit 
which were his frends, mony signifing water and ton 
great in theire language Gabriell must goe along 
with him They gett forth with sixty men and trav- 
elled tenn days due north and then arived at ye mony- 
ton towne sittuated upon a very great river att which 
place ye tide ebbs and flowes. Gabriell swom in ye 
river severall times, being fresh water, this is a 
great towne and a great number of Indians belong 
unto it, and in ye same river Mr. Batt and Fallam 
were upon the head of it as you read in one of my first 
jornalls. This river runes north west and out of ye 
westerly side of it goeth another very great river about 
a days journey lower where the inhabitance are an 
inumarable company of Indians, as the monytons 



222 Trans-Allegheny Region 

told my man which is twenty dayes journey from one 
end to ye other of ye inhabitance, and all these are at 
warr with the Tomahitans. when they had taken 
theire leave of ye monytons they marched three days 
out of thire way to give a clap to some of that great 
nation, where they fell on with great courage and 
were as curagiously repullsed by theire enimise. 

And heare Gabriell received shott with two ar- 
rows, one of them in his thigh, which stopt his runing 
and soe was taken prisoner, for Indian vallour con- 
sists most in theire heeles for he that can run best is 
accounted ye best man. These Indians thought this 
Gabrill to be noe Tomahittan by ye length of his 
haire, for ye Tomahittans keepe theire haire close cut 
to ye end an enime may not take an advantage to lay 
hold of them by it. They tooke Gabriell and scow- 
ered his skin with water and ashes, and when they 
perceived his skin to be white they made very much 
of him and admire att his knife gunn and hatchett 
they tooke w^ith him. They gave those thing to him 
a gaine. He made signes to them the gun was ye 
Tomahittons which he had a disire to take with him, 
but ye knife and hatchet he gave to ye king, they 
not knowing ye use of gunns, the king receved it with 
great shewes of thankfullness for they had not any 
manner of iron instrument that hee saw amongst them 
whilst he was there they brought in a fatt beavor 
which they had newly killd and went to swrynge 
[j/c] it. Gabriell made signes to them that those 
skins were good a mongst the white people toward the 
sun riseing they would know by signes how many 
such skins they would take for such a knife. He told 



Journeys of Needham and Arthur 223 

them foure and eight for such a hattchett and made 
signes that if they would lett him return, he would 
bring many things amongst them, they seemed to 
rejoyce att it and carried him to a path that carried 
to ye Tomahittans gave him Rokahamony for his 
journey and soe they departed, to be short, when 
he came to ye Tomahittans ye king had one short voy- 
age more before hee could bring in Gabriell and that 
was downe ye river, they live upon in perriougers to 
kill hoggs, beares and sturgion which they did incon- 
tinent by five dayes and nights. They went down ye 
river and came to ye mouth of ye salts where they 
could not see land but the water not above three foot 
deepe hard sand.^^^ By this meanes wee know this 
is not ye river ye Spanyards live upon as Mr. Need- 
ham did thinke. Here they killd many swine, stur- 
gin and beavers and barbicued them, soe returned and 
were fifteen dayes tuning up a gainst ye streame but 
noe mountainous land to bee scene but all levell. 

After they had made an end of costing of it about 
ye loth day of May 1674, ye king with eighteen more 
of his people laden with goods begin theire journey 
to come to Forte Henry att ye falls of Appomattock 
river in Charles City County in Virginia, they were 
not disturbed in all theire travels untill they came to 
Sarah, w[h]ere ye Occhenechees weare as I tould you 
before to waite Gabrills coming. There were but 
foure Occohenechees Indians there soe that they durst 

183 Arthur seems to be in error somewhere. Either the party- went to the 
Chattahoochee or Alabama River and descended it to the Gulf, or what is 
more likely, they simply paddled down the Tennessee to some broad, sandy 
shoal, and Arthur's imagination and anxiety to reach the South Sea did 
the rest. 



224 Trans- Allegheny Region 

not adventure to attempt any violent acction by day. 
Heare they say they saw the small truck lying under 
foot that Indian John had scattered and thrown about 
when he had killd Mr. Needham. when it grew 
prity late in ye night ye Occhenee began to worke 
thire plot and made an alaram by an hubbub crying 
out the towne was besett with in numarable company 
of strange Indians this puts the towne people into 
a sodane fright many being betweene sleepeing and 
wakeing, away rune ye Tomahittans and leave all be- 
hind them, and a mongst ye rest was Gabrills two 
peices of gold and chaine in an Indian bagge away 
slipe Gabriell and ye Spanish Indian boy which he 
brought with him and hide themselves in ye bushes. 

After ye Tomahittans were gdn ye foure Occhene- 
chees for there came no more to disturb them, made 
diligent search for Gabriell. Ye moone shining 
bright Gabriell saw them, but he lying under covert 
of ye bushes could not be seene by that Indians. In 
ye morning ye Occhenechees haveing mist of thire 
acme passed home and Gabriell came into ye town 
againe and foure of ye Tomahittans packs hires foure 
Sarrah Indians to carry them to Aeno. Here he mett 
with my man I had sent out soe long ago before to 
inquire for news despratly sick of ye flux, here hee 
could not gett any to goe forth with his packs for feare 
of ye Occhenechees, soe he left them and adventured 
himselfe with ye Spanish Indian boy. ye next day 
came before night in sight of ye Occhenechees towne 
undiscovered and there hid himselfe untill it was 
darke and then waded over into ye iland where ye 



Journeys of Needham and Arthur 225 

Occhenechees are seated, strongly fortified by nature 
and that makes them soe insolent for they are but a 
handfull of people, besides what vagabonds repaire 
to them it beeing a receptackle for rogues. Gabriell 
escapes cleaurely through them and soe wades out on 
this side and runs for it all night. Theire food was 
huckleburyes, which ye woods were full of att that 
time and on ye i8th June with ye boy arived att my 
house, praise be to God for it. now wee come again 
to ye king of ye Tomahittans. With his two sonns 
and one more who tooke thire packs with them and 
comes along by Totero under ye foot of ye mountains, 
untill they mett with James river and there made a 
cannoe of barke and came downe the river to the 
Manikins, from thence to Powetan by land, and 
across the neck and on ye 20th of July at night arived 
att my house and gives certaine relation how Mr. 
James Needham came by his death. This king I re- 
ceived with much joy and kind entertainement and 
much joy there was betweene Gabriell and ye king, 
that once more they were met again. I gave the king 
a good reward for his high favor in preserving my 
mans life. Hee staid with me a few dayes promising 
to bee with mee againe att ye fall of ye leafe with a 
party that would not be f rited by ye way and doubt 
not but hee will come if hee bee not intercepted by 
selfe ended traders for they have strove what they 
could to block up ye designe from ye beginning, 
which were here too tedious to relate. Thus endes 
ye tragedy I hope yett to live to write cominically of 
ye buisness. If I could have ye countenance of some 



226 Trans-Allegheny Region 

person of honour in England to curb and bridle ye 
obstructers here for here is no incouragement att all to 
be had for him that is Sir Youre humble servant 

Ab Wood. 
From Forte Henry, August the 22th, 1674. 

Endorsed in Locke's hand: Carolina Discoverys 
crosse the mountains by Major Generall Wood 1674 



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VII 

Coxe's Account of the Activities of the 
English in the Mississippi Valley in the 
Seventeenth Century 

A Memorial by Dr. Daniel Coxa 



Coxe's Account of the Activities of the 

English in the Mississippi Valley in 

the Seventeenth Century 

A Memorial^ by Dr. Daniel Coxe 

Report relative to the English discoveries in Carolina and 

Florida, and the settlement of English and French claims 

[temp. George I]: the writer [Edward Billing?], speaks 

of himself as having been Governor of New Jersey towards 

the end of the reign of Charles II ^^* 

Mr. Tonty one of the French king's Governours 
in Canada owns in his book printed at Paris, That in 
the year 1679 when he was there the Irocois were 
possessed of a Territory Extending from the Lower 

♦British Museum Additional Manuscripts 15903, f, 116. 

^^* Printed from transcript made in London ; hitherto unpublished. 

The ascription of this document to Edward Billing is certainly incorrect; 
Billing died in Jan., 1687, and the author continually refers to events that 
happened many years later. Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biog- 
raphy, vol. vii, 317-326. 

It was written by Dr. Daniel Coxe, of London. Coxe was bom in 1640 
and died in his ninetieth year. He never visited America, deeply inter- 
ested as he was in its affairs. He was an M.D. of Cambridge, a scientist, 
and a Fellow of the Royal Society. In the course of his life-long pursuit 
of plans for colonization in America he accumulated a great store of docu- 
mentary information regarding the early history and exploration of the 
continent, and in preserving some of it rendered a distinct service to con- 
temporary geography, and to American history. Regarding the question of 
his personal truthfulness and the explanation of the "travelers tales" that 
are sometimes found in his writings, we cannot do better than quote the 
acute and judicious Governor Nicholson of Virginia, who was well ac- 
quainted with Coxe and his various writings. Nicholson writes, Aug. 27, 
1700, "I believe he is an honest gentleman and a very good doctor . . . 



232 Trans-Allegheny Region 

End of the Island Montreal!, where the two great 
Rivers meet which forme the River St. Laurance of 
two hundred Leagues Extent, which is to the west end 

but I am afraid several people have abused the Doctor's good nature and 
generosity by telling him of strange countries and giving him maps there- 
of."— Ca/^Wi/ar of State Papers, Colonial, America and ^^est Indies, 1700, 
no. 739, p. 497. 

Coxe was interested in both the Jerseys, and after the death of Edward 
Billing in 1687 purchased from the family their lands in West Jersey, to- 
gether with the right of government in the province, under the grant of 
the Duke of York to Billing. Coxe sold this latter, and most of the lands, 
in March, 1692, to Lane and others. 

In his "Account of New Jersey" [printed in the Pennsylvania Magazine 
of History and Biography, vol. vii, 327-335] Coxe writes: "I have made 
greate discoveryes towards the greate Lake whence come above 100,000 
Bevers every year to the French Canada and English at New Yorke, Jersey, 
Pensilvania. I have contracted Freinshipp with diverse petty Kings in 
the way to and upon the sd greate Lake and doubt not to bring the greatest 
part of the sd Traffick for Furs into that part of the Country where I am 
setled and by my patent I am intituled to the said Trade Exclusive of 
others." 

He further states that one of his tracts on the Delaware is admirably 
located for Indian trade, and is only six days easy journey from the great 
lake. He adds "I have been att greate Expence to make friendshipp with 
the Indians, discover the passages to the Lakes, and open'd a way for a vast 
trade thereunto." It should be stated that this "Account of New Jersey" 
was advertising literature, written while he was trying to sell the province. 
On April 24, 1690, Coxe petitioned the Council for a grant of land in 
America between 36° 30' and 46° 30'. The request was referred to the 
Lords of Trade, urged by him before them, and refused. [^Calendar of 
State Papers, Colonial, America and JVest Indies, 1689-1692, nos. 843, 1027, 
1177, 2767.] 

At some time prior to 1698 he purchased the rights to the patent of 
Carolana (see page 238) which included Norfolk Count\', Virginia, and 
the English rights to the Mississippi Valley west of the Carolinas. He at 
once began to bombard the government with appeals for the confirmation 
of his patents and for assistance in his colonizing schemes. Despite the 
opposition of the Virginia government, his title to the Carolana patent was 
confirmed by the highest legal authority, the Lords of Trade listened rather 
favorably to his plans, and some countenance was for a time given his 
endeavors. Coxe himself says that it was the death of King William, in 
1702, which ended the government's favor, but before that time political 
reasons, mainly the danger of trouble with the Spaniards and French, and 



Coxe's Activities of the English 233 

of the Lake Erie. And elsewhere, that they had con- 
quered the Miamihas and Illinois, Chavanoues three 
great Nations as far as the River Meschacebe, And 
that Northward they had conquered the Kicapous, 
Maschoutens, etc: for which and divers other pas- 

practical difficulties had produced a change in the attitude of the Lords of 
Trade [Calendar of State Papers, Colonial, America and fVesi Indies, 1699, 
DOS. 85s, 861, 867, 953, 957, 966, 970, 972, 974, 1050, 1051, 1067, 1081, 1082, 
1083]. The documents submitted by Coxe record the fact that he was 
ordered by the Lords of Trade to come before them and prove certain of 
the allegations made in his memorial [no. 967]. 

In 1698 the Doctor fitted out two armed vessels to explore the regions to 
which he laid claim. He had already interested the Huguenot refugees 
in London in his plan, and intended to settle them on the Mississippi. Sev- 
eral of the Huguenot gentlemen volunteered to accompany the expedition, 
Coxe provided his captains with a map made from Spanish sources, and 
they found and entered the river, being the first to do so in seagoing vessels. 
They proceeded up the stream to the point still known as English Turn, and 
on the way encountered Bienville (Sept. 15, 1699), were warned off by him, 
but took it coolly and promised to come again. One ship was wrecked on 
the return voyage, but the other arrived in England in February, 1700. 
The journals and charts of its officers were immediately laid before the 
council, and the captain. Bond by name, called in to verify them. Fide 
post, pp. 112-113; Calendar of State Papers, Colonial, America and West 
Indies, 1700, nos. 124, 127, 132; Jesuit Relations, vol. Ixv, 172-173, 270, 
footnote; Charlevoix, History of Neiv France, vol. v, 124; Sauvole, Journal, 
vol. iii, 229-238; La Harpe, 29; Margry, Decouvertes et Etablissement des 
Frangais, vol. iv, 361. 

But Coxe had already (Jan. 2, 1700) abandoned for the time his plan of 
settling on the Mississippi, and after considering Jamaica as the solution of 
the difficulty and being forced to give it up, too [Calendar of State Papers, 
Colonial, America and West Indies, 1700, no. 56], he pressed his claims to 
Norfolk County and arranged to send the Huguenots thither. A body of sev- 
eral hundred were actually despatched. They found all the lands occupied 
and the climate unhealthy, and underwent some distress, from which they 
were relieved by the people of the colony, and were finally settled by the 
government at Manakin Town in the piedmont [ibid., nos. 2, 143, 14'), 739 
xiii, 18, 26, 28, 132, 681, 934, 1055]. 

Coxe never entirely abandoned hope of reviving his project for a colony 
on the Mississippi, and sent many other communications to the Lords of 
Trade regarding his Carolana patent [ibid., 1701, nos. 721, 1042 xii, 1166, 
p. 637]. The memorial here printed is one of these communications, and 



234 Trans- Allegheny Region 

sages in his Book which seemed to favour the Eng- 
lish pretentions, The book was called in by the French 
king, and I could not at Paris procure that book un- 
der thirty Livers, which was at first sold for one Liv- 
er, which book was translated into English 1698 from 
my french Copy.* All these Countryes and all the 
Peninsula between the Leaks of Ontario Erie and 
the Hurons a most beautifull and fruitfull Country, 
Conquered before by the Irocois, and four great Na- 
tions Expelled were sold by them unto the English 
Government of New York (which agreement or sale 
is now in the Plantation Office) during the Govern- 
ment of Coll. Dungan at the beginning of King James 
the 2d's Reign. These Countryes reach unto the 
North bounds of my Patent and Mr. De-Clerke in his 

was sent in some time after 1702 [see Carolana, 41-42]. It follows the 
original memorial of 1699, with some omissions and some additions. The 
scheme which it proposes for dividing Carolana at the Mississippi River 
between France and England is again proposed in Carolana, 34. 

Dr. Daniel Coxe was succeeded in his pretensions by his son, Colonel 
Daniel Coxe, who composed the book Carolana (London, 1705) from his 
father's papers. For sketch of the son's life see Pennsylvania Magazine of 
History and Biography, vol. vii, 326. The title to Carolana remained in 
the Coxe family until 1769, when the heirs surrendered it to the British 
government in exchange for a hundred thousand acres of land in New York. 
The senior Coxe is perhaps better remembered as the author of one of the 
earliest plans for colonial union than as a colonizer. A good sketch of 
the life of Dr. Coxe is found in the Pennsylvania Magazine of History and 
Biography, vol. vii, 317-326. It is by G. D. Scull of Oxford, England, 
and is prepared principally from unpublished manuscripts in the Bodleian 
Library at Oxford. The author did not, however, have the aid of the 
colonial state papers, which have been principally relied upon in the prep- 
aration of the present sketch. 

* The reference is to a volume entitled Dernieres decouveries dans 
VAmerique septentrionale de M. de la Salle. The authorship of which was 
ascribed to Tonty, but denied by him. It was published in 1697 not 1679 
as stated in the document. The English translation was published at Lon- 
don in 1698. 



Coxe's Activities of the English 235 

Book of the French discoveryes printed at Paris by 
order 1691 owns the Illinois were driven by the Iro- 
coies 1680 out of their Country and went to settle 
among the Ozages, who dwell west forty or fifty 
Miles beyond the River Meschacebe, second part, 
page 205. And the same Author Glories page 135 
that the French by the Order of Mr. Denenville 
Seized upon the English Forts and Country of Hud- 
son's Bay in the year 1686, a time of profound Peace 
in the Reign of King James the second, their great 
Monarchs best Ally; and there is no Collony in 
America whereunto the English can pretend a better 
Title, having been beyond all dispute the first dis- 
coverers and the first planters, and which they had 
long possessed without any Claim from any foreign 
Nation. 

The French indeed pretend that they took with 
them Mr. [blank in Ms.] and Radison when they 
planted the bottom of the Bay who understood the 
Language and were Naturallized English and a great 
help unto them, for the Algonquin Language spoke 
by the Natives of Canada reaches to Hudson's Bay 
and all along the North parts for above four hundred 
Leagues. For which Claim, if these were any 
Grounds, wee have a much better to all or most of the 
discoveries made by Mr. de Salle, who having notice 
that our English had two or three years before made 
a discovery from the Massachusetts Collony with 
twelve men up and down the River Meschacebe, and 
the River running from the West thereunto, as will 
appear from the Records thereof at Boston, the chief 
City of New England, as I have often been told by 



236 Trans-Allegheny Region 

the present Governour Collonell Dudley/^^ Mr. de 
Salle debauch'd divers of these Indians who were in 
that discovery and who were his Guides and Inter- 
preters from the begining to the End: They were 
thirty-one in Number and with them twenty-three 
French - as Mr. de Gierke owns page 214. 

As a further proof of what wee may expect from 
the french at Canada if ever they gain power wee 
may observe what account Mr. de Tonty gives of two 
Noble Atchievments the begining of the year 1687, 
At which time there were so great a friendship and 
Correspondence between King James the second and 
the french king. Mr. Denonville understanding 
that the English after their purchase of the foremen- 
tioned Country of the Irocois had made Leagues of 
friendship with, and were Invited by the Nations 
round the Leakes of Erie Huron etc - to Trade 
amongst them, found no other Expedient to prevent 
our progress then secretly to Inform all the French 
under his Government that they should make warr 
with the Irocois and all their Allyes. The English 
knowing nothing hereof sent two fleets of Canoes not 
fitted for warr but only for Trading, and in them the 
greatest Cargo was ever sent out of the Colony of 
New York, who are very conveniently scituated and 
much better then the French for that purpose. 

The English Navigated they thought very securely, 
not Expecting any harm from the French, not their 
Allyes, being altogether Ignorant of the Warr the 

185 No such records have been found, though diligent search has been 
made for them. This was probably a case in which Dr. Coxe was imposed 
upon. At any rate it seems to be the origin of one of the most persistent 
of the unproved stories of English exploration. 



Coxe's Activities of the English 237 

French had agreed amongst themselves against them. 
The French by their Spyes having notice of their 
Motions Surprized one part in the Lake of the Hu- 
rons, Consisting of five hundred English, Dutch, and 
their Confederates, killing one half and taking most 
of the rest Prisoners, with their Canoes, Arms and 
Goods. And other Detachments of the French Sur- 
prized the other Body in the Lake Errie, who were 
composed of English, Irocois and Ouabaches (who 
lives in a few Leagues of the River Meschacebe) un- 
der the Conduct of Major Grigory or Mackgreger, 
and after having killed the greatest part of them, took 
their Baggage and Merchandize, with a great Num- 
ber of Slaves, amongst them twenty-five English with 
the Major from whom I had the same Account, which 
is fully related by Monsieur Tonty page 133.* The 
French own according to Mr. Lehonton, they took to 
the value of 50,000 Crowns in goods besides what 
were destroyed. Many English died in prison and 
of hardship, and our Indians were given up to their 
Indian allies, a great part of them died under the 
most Exquisite Torments. And further to manifest 
their Enmity to the English I will add an Account of 
their very hard Usage of one of their own Country 
men, Related by the Barron le Houton, a fair Im- 
partiall writer (who was then present) in his thir- 
teenth chapter of his first Book of Viages. 

The next day (after one of the forementioned Sur- 
prizes) a young Canad[i]a[n], called Fontain Mar- 
ion was shot to death; his case stood thus; he was 
perfectly well acquainted with the Savages of Cana- 

*For other accounts of this episode consult Ne<w York Colonial Docu- 
ments, vol. iii, 395, 436; consult index. 



238 Trans- Allegheny Region 

da, and after the doing of several good services unto 
the King desired leave from the Governour Generall 
to continue his Travells in Order to carry on some 
little Trade, but his request was never granted. Up- 
on that he resolved to remove to New England, the 
two Crowns being then at peace, where he had a wel- 
come reception, for he was an active fellow and one 
who understood almost all the Languages of the Sav- 
ages, Upon which Consideration, he was Employed 
to Conduct the English Treaders before mentioned, 
and had the misfortune to be taken with them. Now 
to my mind says the Barron Le Hunton, the Usage 
he met with from Us was very hard, for wee were at 
Peace with England, and besides that Crown layes 
claim to the Property of the Lakes of Canada, and 
Circumjacent Parts. 

In obedience unto your Lordships Commands I 
thought it expedient to add unto the Memoriall pre- 
sented unto King Wm.^^^ and wherewith he was so 
well satisfied that he was pleased to order a Council 
which was very numerous, wherein it was Read, De- 
bated, and Accepted unanimously with great Ap- 
plause, and his Majestic often declared he was so 
sencible of the English Nations Interest in this Af- 
faire both for promoting their Trade and securing 
them from the Inconveniencyes that might accrue 
unto the English Plantations upon the Continent, es- 
pecially New York, Jersey, Pensilvania, Virginia, 
Maryland and Carolina, that he was pleased to Order 
me frequently to consult my Lord Summers, then 
Lord Chancellor, the Earle of Pembrook, Lord 

186 This is that abstracted in Calendar of State Papers, Colonial, Amer- 
ica and JVest Indies, 1699, no. 967, and in Carolana. 



Coxe's Activities of the English 239 

High Admirall, Lord Lansdown, then Lord Privy 
Seal, and others who all gave me the greatest Encour- 
agements to proceed as did his Majestic frequently 
with assurance of his Aid and Assistance both of 
Ships Men and Money. It pleased God to take him 
to himselfe, and notwithstanding my frequent Appli- 
cations afterwards, I had many promises, tho' never 
found any good effects thereof. Other Affairs which 
seem'd unto them of greater moment wholy taking 
up their thoughts. Whereupon I have ever since de- 
sisted from prosecuting further an Affaire which 
could never succeed without Aid and Countenance 
from the Publick. But since the Lords Justices and 
your Lordships have thought fitt to revive the con- 
sideration of this Undertaking and your Lordships 
have required me to acquaint you with whatsoever of 
moment have come to my knowledge relating unto 
you our just due and right unto the Province of Caro- 
lina or Florida all which I shall sincerely and Im- 
partially without reserve or disguise communicate 
unto your Lordships. 

King Charles the first by his Letter Patents did 
grant to Sir Robert Heath knight his Attorney Gen- 
erall, and to his heires and assigns for ever, all the 
Province of Carolina together with divers powers, 
Priveledges and Advantages in the said Letters Pat- 
ents mentioned. 

Sir Robert after Conveyed his Interest unto the 
Lord Matrevers, Son and heire to the Lord Arun- 
dale, who had a wonderful Inclination and great Sa- 
gacity in Promoting the Plantation of Northern 
American and some of the Islands thereunto Adja- 
cent. After ye Patent of Carolina was Consigned 



240 Trans-Allegheny Region 

unto him, he immediately began to plant the North- 
ermost part of it Bordering upon Virginia. And that 
there might be a perfect good correspondence be- 
tween him and that Colony by the Neighbourhood of 
his Colony, Sir John Harvy, Governour and the 
Council of Virginia, did grant by King Charles the 
first his Order signifyed by his Letters Patents Bear- 
ing date the Eleventh day of Aprill in the thirteenth 
year of his Reign, a Tract of Land to be called the 
County of Norfolk, as will at large appear by the 
Copy of the deed faithfully transcrib'd from the 
Originall, which I have in my possession, it being 
conveyed unto me with the Province of Coralina 

The Lord Matrevers was at great expence and 
trouble to plant that little Province. He designed 
from thence to propogate his plantations to the south 
having many Plantations Tenants Magazins etc. for 
his views were chiefly Carolina. Thereupon he com- 
missioned divers Persons some to Plant the North 
part of his Province of Carolina, as Hartwell and 
others, the South part as Captain Henery Hawley and 
his friends, what I could recover of these Transac- 
tions I lay before your Lordships; but the Duke of 
Norfolk's Steward often assur'd me that a vast num- 
ber of writings and maps relating to this Country 
were burnt by a fire hapned in the Duke of Norfolk's 
house the latter end of king Charles the Reign [sic']. 

The Lord Matrevers upon his Fathers Death be- 
ing Earle of Arundell and Surry Earle Marshall of 
England, made considerable Employments or Pat- 
ents for them, when the Warr with the Scotts in 1639 



Coxe's Activities of the English 241 

where he was Generall for King Charles broke out 
and out of zeale for his Prince carried them along 
with him, that and the following year, which at that 
time hindred the peopeling of that Province. And 
he being afterwards discontented, of which the Earle 
of Clarendon in his history gives a full Account, with- 
drew himself, travelled and dyed, as I remember at 
Padua in Italy 1646. His eldest Son proving a Lun- 
atick and continuing so to his death, was Succeed by 
his Brother Henry, then a Roman Catholick, and in 
great trouble about the time of the Popish Plott, and 
being otherwise diverted first neglected then dis- 
posed of it unto Sir James Shaen who had form'd a 
noble design and Engaged great Numbers in it, but a 
strange misfortune frustreated all. 

It descending unto his son, Sir Arthur, of whom 
the present Proprietors purchased it,'" from this 
Crayon it is obvious unto all Understanding Con- 
sidering persons unto what great troubles and dangers 
most of our Colonyes on the Continent must be Ex- 
posed. If powerfuU Ambitious, Coveteous or un- 
kind Neighbours should possess the Country on the 
East side of the River Meschacebe into which run 
many great Rivers of long course which proceed from 
the Back of our Plantations of Pensilvania, Mary- 
land, Virginia, North and South Carolina, they be- 
ing of very easie access, the Rivers having no Falls 
or Cataracts, but an interrupted course unto their 
heads, so that upon very frivolus Pretences they may 
in process of time be as troublesome to them all as they 

187 What precedes is the authoritative account of the orisin and trans- 
mission of the title to Carolana, approved by the attorney-general and other 
high legal authorities. 



242 Trans-Allegheny Region 

were formerly to the Colonyes of New England, New 
York and Hudsons Bay. 

Before I render an Account of my own Discoverys, 
It will not be amiss to mention that a Company was 
form'd in the protectorate of Cromwell by divers gen- 
tlemen and merchants upon ye Rupture with Spain 
whose subscriptions and agreements about the setting 
of the Country I here present your Lordships which 
I received from Sir Wm. Waller the younger, whose 
father, one of the chief Generalls for the Parliament 
during the late unhappy Civill Warrs, was the chief 
Contriver and promoter of this Undertaking. They 
sent divers Ships well man'd and victualled, who dis- 
covered all the Coast of Florida from ye Bay of Apa- 
lachy on the west side of the Peninsula of Florida for 
above two hundred miles and within twenty Leagues 
of the River Meschcebe, gave names to about a hun- 
dred Rivers, Harbours, some from the names of the 
Captain's Ships, and others, to Chief Adventures in 
the Expedition, others from the names of some com- 
odities they met with, as Pearl River, Logwood Riv- 
er, Fustick River, or from the names of some resem- 
blance they did bear to Rivers, Harbours, etc. in 
England. They planted and setled in two or three 
places where they resided some years, and sent such 
discription of the Country and Samples of divers 
Comodities, as dying woods, and Roots, Cotton, Indi- 
co, Cochinil, Pearl, etc., which last are not only in 
many places upon the Sea Coast but plentifull in div- 
ers freshwater Rivers and so large and Orient that 
Mr. Persivall who was divers years Governour of 
Carolina for the Earl of Shaftsbury and ye other Pro- 



Coxe's Activities of the English 243 

prietors, divers Traders brought out of this Country 
Pearls which he shevv'd me, at the Earle of Shafts- 
burys which were valued some at Twenty, Thirty or 
Forty and one at a hundred pounds. 

The Company beforementioned being well satisfy- 
ed herewith provided several Ships well victualled 
and furnished all manner of amunition whatsoever 
was needfull for Plantations, and above two Thou- 
sand men. Soldiers and Planters besides women. But 
the Protector dying, the Confusions succeeding dis- 
couraged them and put a Period to their Noble de- 
sign. And those who resided in the Country not being 
supported withdrew and went to English Plantations 
at Jamaica, Barbadoes, and other Islands. And one 
of them Captain Watts was after the Restoration 
knighted by King Charles ye second and made Gov- 
ernour of Island of St. Christopher. 

I had a large and exact map of this Country so farr 
as they had discovered, being about Two hundred 
miles upon the Coast and about as farr into the Coun- 
try which I unhappily lent about twenty years since 
and could never recover it. But I had before shewn 
it for divers years to above a hundred persons of good 
Judgment, most of whom upon that and many other 
Inducements had proffer'd to Joyn with me in Set- 
ling that Country. 

I shall now proceed to give an Account of my own 
Discoveries with the first occation and progress of 
them. About Thirty-eight years ago attending on 
the present Duke of Somerset at Petworth in Sussex 
where I continued many dayes, among many remark- 
able Books contained in a Noble Library Collected 



244 Trans-Allegheny Region 

by divers Earles of Northumberland I met with the 
Expedition of Ferdinando Soto throughout most 
parts of Florida written in Spanish by the Celebrat- 
ed Garzilazia Delatega author of the History of 
Peru translated into English by Sir Paul Ricaut, and 
soon after my return a book in Quarto publish'd by 
ye Famous Mr. Hacluite being a translation of the 
same Expedition out of Portuguese written by a Gen- 
tleman of Elvas, who with divers other Gentlemen 
Portuguese accompanyed the Spaniards from ye be- 
ginning to the End, written with great Judgment and 
Fidelity. Out of which with great Labour and pains 
I fram'd a Mapp which to be true and Accurate al- 
most all of it was confirm'd by latter discoveries and 
by means hereof my Ships found the Mouth of the 
River within less than twenty leagues as I had laid it 
in my Chart '^^ and which the French in their Mapps 
before and divers years since place on hundred 
leagues more to the West, and it is well known the 
French king sent two Fleets, one by Mr. Salle, and 
another, neither of which could find the Mouth of 
the River. Apprehending I might be serviceable to 
my Prince and Country if could make further dis- 
coveries of this River and others entring thereinto 
from our Provinces, I being Proprietary and Gov- 
ernour of New Jersey, and kept a Correspondence 
with the Governours and Chief Traders into the Con- 
tinent of all the Neighbour Colonys from New Eng- 
land to South Carolina, learned from Coll. Dudley 
afterwards Thirteen years Governour of New Eng- 
land who being here president for the representing 

iss-phis is quite true, for the French officers saw the map. See footnote 
184. 



Coxe's Activities of the English 245 



the state of that Country unto King Charles the Sec- 
ond and his Council assured me among many other 
remarkable things that ten or twelve went a Trading 
from the back or West side of New York five or six 
years before found a great River which appears to be 
the famous River Hohio thence entred the Mescha- 
cebe and ascending thence another great River, which 
runs from the North West which since appears to be 
the Yellow River as farr as the Spanish Plantations, 
and brought home with them the leg of an horse of 
whom did see many feeding in the Meadows, which 
relation was taken by the Chief Magistrates at Boston 
and entres into their Register where it yet remains.* 

Upon this I Encouraged severall to attempt furth- 
er Discoveryes whereupon three of my Tennants in a 
Burchen Canoe went up Schnil Kill (a River comes 
into Delaware at Philadelphia) above one hundred 
miles, then by a branch into a Branch of the great 
Tasquehana River thence into the South branch of 
the same river to its head, and Carrying their Canoe 
over some small hills entred the great river Hohio 
which after a course of six hundred miles Joynes the 
Meschacebe, and going up that River went up ye 
great Yellow River three dayes Voyage, which River 
comes from the hills which seperate New Mexico 
from Carolina. 

They went and returned through above forty Na- 
tions of Indians who all treated them very kindly and 
gave them many furrs for Indian trade they carried 
with them. I had from them a large Journall writ- 
ten and a larg Mapp very exact abating the want of 

* An examination of the registers has been made and no such entry 
found. 



246 Trans- Allegheny Region 

the lattitudes which they had not Skill nor Judgment 
to take, which chart and Journal about Twenty six 
yeares ago I lent Mr. Penn, but could never recover 
them, tho' I was informed he kept them for the In- 
struction of the People of his own Colony, who were 
chiefly Imploy'd in the Indian Trade/^® 

Afterwards I gained further knowledge from very 
intelligent persons, Major Gregory who us'd the New 
York Trade, and were some thousand miles with the 
Indians Divers ways, as also with the Chief Traders 
in Virginia, Collon. Bird, Mr. Needh: and others in 
North and South Carolina, especially Mr. Percivall 
and Mr. Woodward, the latter with divers others 
having passed the hills that seperate Carolina from 
Carolana as farr as the River Meschacebe divers 
ways and as I have been inform'd some English setled 
among the Chicazas a larg and valiant Nation whose 
bounds extend to the Great River, as also among the 
great Nation of the Cheraquees, whereof if I had 
time, I believe I could soon gain more perfect and 
certain information. 

Being fully satisfyed about the inland Country I 
thought it advisable to make a discovery of all ye sea 
Coast, harbours, and Rivers entring out of Carolana 
into the North side of the Gulph of Mexico; where- 
upon in the year 1698 I fitted out two small Gallyes 
well Mann'd and victualled for a yeare and a halfe 
which carried between them twenty Cannon and six- 
teen Pedrarios besides plenty of other Arms for of- 
fence and Defence, and Store of Amunition. They 
went first to Charles Town in Carolina to take in some 

189 Yhjs appears quite clearly a case where Coxe was imposed upon both 
with story and map. 



Coxe's Activities of the English 247 

further Provisions of Rice, Salt, Beef, Pork etc. and 
settle a good understanding between me and that 
Colony, I having been Intimately acquainted with the 
Governour and Chief persons of that Province, which 
was effected to our Mutuall Satisfaction. There went 
in these Ships about Thirty English and French vol- 
unteers with a design to remain in some convenient 
place of the Province of Carolana, and if possible 
upon the Great River or some other entring thereinto, 
most men of good Scence, great Courage, and some of 
Quality, as the Marquis de la Muce ''" a French Ref- 
ugee who left above four thousand pounds sterling a 
year that he might enjoy the free Exercise of the 
Protestant Religion, who was greatly favoured by the 
King, and had a Pention of six hunred pounds per 
annum and a considerable Office near the Queen. The 
Baron de Sailly sent his two sons; the rest both Eng- 
lish and French were all Gentlemen. 

I give no Account of the Voyage having herewith 
Tendred two of the Journalls written by very honest 
experienced Seamen, one the Capt., the other his 
mate, chosen by him who was soon after a Capt. The 
other Capts. Journall who commanded the larger 
Ships is wanting, he being cast away in his return up- 
on or near the Islands of Scylly, he and all his men 
with the Cargo being lost. By which two Journalls 
it appears that they carefully and diligently searched 
all the coast of Carolana Florida to the westward 
Fourteen degrees Longitude. And that in all the 
said space they found neither French Settlements or 
any sign that any French had been settled in any part 

1*0 This gentleman was one of the two leaders of the large band of 
Huguenots whom Coxe sent to settle in Virginia the next year. 



248 Trans-Allegheny Region 

or place upon the said coasts in all the said Tracts. 
And that having been one hundred Miles up the great 
River Meschacebe they found not any sign of a 
French Settlement in the said River or any of its three 
great Branches whereby it emptieth itself into the 
Bay or Gulph of Mexico. The Journall will give an 
Account where when and how they took possession 
for the King of England.''' 

I believe there will be great difficulties in a Treaty 
between us and the French about settling the Bound- 
aryes of our English Colonyes upon the Continent of 
North America, and those of the French, particular- 
ly the Provence of Carolana, of which they seem very 
fond, having already made some settlements and are 
preparing to make more and greater. But I appre- 
hend I have found an expedient beyond all just Ex- 
ceptions, which I hope may prove satisfactory unto 
both Partyes. 

The River Meschacebe by them stiled Missisipy 
runs through the middle of this Province, and the 
lands on ye west side rather larger than that on ye 
east. And it hath been very long generally believ'd 
that the western side abounds most with Mines of 
Gold and Silver, bordering upon those belonging to 
Mexico and New Mexico in which are the Richest 
Mines belonging to the Spaniards in North America. 

My Proposall ''' is that we should abandon above 
halfe the Province totally and finally to the French 

191 \yg have not found this journal but in a long discussion of the 
navigability of the Mississippi, written by General Phineas Lyman in 
1766 [Lansdoune Mss., vol. xlviii, 263 et seq.1 long extracts of the journal 
of Captain Bond (the captain above mentioned), are quoted. According 
to these the English ships sailed about one hundred miles up the river. 

132 Compare Carolana, 34. 



Coxe's Activities of the English 249 



which is on the West side of the Great River, and 
retain unto our Selves all that on the East Side, all 
the Rivers vs^hereof proceed from our Colonyes of 
Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Pensilvania and New 
York. And that all the land on ye East side of the 
River to the River Illinouecks, by them called the 
River of the Ilinois, unto the head thereof, and five 
or six Leagues further unto the Lake of the Ilinois 
and then South to the north Border of Carolina may 
be adjudged to belong to the English. It being pur- 
chased of the Indians (and much more) in the begin- 
ning of King James the second his Reign by Gov- 
ernour Dungan, after Earle of Limerick, which is 
recorded in the Plantation Office. And that the 
Navigation of the River of the Ilinois should be free 
to the English into and from the Great River, and 
from thence down the River into the Sea. 

And because it may be supposed that the French 
will not willingly abandon their Settlements on the 
west side of the River, That they may be allowed to 
keep them, They not being prejudiciall to the Eng- 
lish Plantations, being two hundred miles remote 
from any Great River coming out of our Plantations, 
Conditionally that the French plant no more upon the 
East side of the Great River within the bounds above 
mentioned: All which will be manifest unto your 
Lordships from a Strict View of the Mapp, I had 
the honour to leave with your Lordships. 



Bibliography 



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258 Trans-Allegheny Region 

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Index 



INDEX 



AccoNECHY Indians: see Occaneechi 
Indians 

Admiralty: 51 

Aeno: see Eno 

Akenatzy Indians: see Occaneech'. 
Indians 

Albermarle, Earl of: interest in 
Carolina, 59 and footnote; mem- 
ber of Hudson's Bay Company, 
59; speculations, 57 

Algonquin Indians: prevalence in 
Canada, 235 

Allouez, Father Claude Jean: on 
the Wisconsin, 24, footnote 

Apachancano: Indian chief, 119, 
121 ; treachery, 125 

Apamatack River: see Appomattox 
River 

Apomatack Indians: see Appomattoc 
Indians 

Apomatock River: see Appomattox 
River 

Appalachian [Apailachian, Apa- 
lachean, Apalateans] Mountains: 
description, 138, 141 ; passage 
through, 167; viewed by Lederer, 

147 

Appomattoc [Appamatack, Appa- 
mattoc, Appamatuck, Appoma- 
tock, Appomattecke, Appomat- 
tocke] Indians: customs, 121, 122; 
used as guides, 70, 82, 114, 184, 
211; village, 32, 196; visited by 
Lederer, 68 

Appomattox [Apamatack, Appo- 
mattake, Apomattake] River: ex- 
plorations, 28, 196; land of A. 
Wood on, 37, 2io; military posts 
on, 27, 29 



Arlington, Earl of: ambassador at 
Paris, 57; letter of W. Berkeley 
to, 61, 70, 175 ; of Codrington, 
210, footnote; of T. Ludweil, 177; 
speculations of, 57 

Arthur [Arther, Artheur], Gabriel: 
at Port Royal, 220; at Sarah, 223 ; 
at Sitteree, 81, 2ii; attempted 
murder of, 86, 218, 224; captured 
by Shawnee, 88, 222 ; checked by 
Indians, 80; explorations, 79-89, 
210-216; first expedition, 210; 
joins Indian war party, 86, 219; 
on Carolina Blue Ridge, 81, 212; 
second expedition, 80, 211; sets 
out from Fort Henry, 210; with 
Monetons, 87, 221 ; with Occa- 
neechi, 211; with Tomahitans, 81, 
82, 83, 211, 212, 214 

Arundale, Lord: interest in America, 
239 

Ashley, Anthony Lord: see Shaftes- 
bury, Earl of 

Askarin: mother of Indian race, 
144 

Assembly of Virginia: act on explo- 
rations, 28, loi, 102; maintenance 
of posts, 30. Order — on explora- 
tions, 102, 103, 104; order of Oc- 
tober, 1650, 112; of November, 
1652, 102; of July, 1653, 103; of 
i658[?] 103; of March, 1659/60, 
104 

Auripigmentum: used by Indians, 

155 

Austin, Walter: granted right to ex- 
plore, loi, 102 

Austria Hungan,-: fur-trade, 58 

Axes: trade in, 169 



262 



Trans-Allegheny Region 



Bacon, Nathaniel: defeats Indians, 
124 

Bacon's Rebellion: hinders explora- 
tions, 76, 77, 89 

Batt, Thomas: see Batts, Thomas 

Batts, Henry: land patents, 184, foot- 
note 

Batts, John: father of T. Batts, 184, 
footnote 

Batts, Robert: grandfather of T. 
Batts, 184, footnote 

Batts [Batt, Batte, Botts, Bolton], 
Thomas: biographical notice, 184, 
footnote; at Peters' Falls, 192; at 
Sapona, 185; at Totero, 186, 192; 
commission, 184; education, 90; 
establishes England's claim to 
West, 74, 191 ; explorations, 19, 
54 and footnote, 70, 74, 196, 210, 
221; itinerary, 195, 199, 200; on 
New River, 73, 189; on Ohio 
River, 201; on Pede River, 197; 
on Roanoke River, 187; on Staun- 
ton River, 185, 197; on Swift 
Creek, i88; on Wood River, 198; 
report, 54, footnote; return to Fort 
Henry, 193; with Hanathaskies, 
185, 193 

Beads: trade in, 170 

Beaver: prevalence, 148; trade, 88, 
194, 213, 221, 223 

Berkeley, Culpeper (brother of Sir 
Wm.): 178 

Berkeley [Berkely, Berkly], Sir Wil- 
liam: commissions J. Lederer, 136; 
governor of Virginia, 114; initials 
cut in tree, 191 ; interest in Caro- 
lina, 59 and footnote; interest in 
fur trade, 76 ; interest in silk in- 
dustry', 178; interest in western 
explorations, 20, 46, 61, 66, 69, 70, 
74, 77, 179; letter to Arlington, 
61, 70, 175 ; to Lords of Trade, 
178 ; requests commission, 176 ; 
sends out explorers, 51, 61, 66, 
69, 17s, 177; speculations, 57; 
weakness, 42 



Berkeley Island: named by A. Wood, 
124; see Totero 

Beverley, Robert: describes Batts- 
Fallam expedition, 74, 196; in- 
accuracy, 75 

Billing, Edward: author of narra- 
tive on explorations, 231 and foot- 
note; death, 232, footnote 

Bird, William: see Byrd, William 

Blackwater Lake: explorers at, 130 

Blackwater River: explorations, 49; 
military posts, 27 

Bland, Edward: biographical notice, 
m, footnote; education, 90; colo- 
nization scheme, 50, 51; receives 
order for colonization, 50; granted 
right to explore, 112; notes on 
explorations, 49, 50; quotes W. 
Raleigh, 112, 113; Discovery of 
Neiu Brittaine, 109-130; death, 51. 
Explorations — ^%, 80, 114; at Not- 
taway Town, 115; at Occooeechi, 
124; at Pyanchas Park, 123; at 
Totero, 124; on Brewsters River, 
121; on Blandina River, 123; on 
Farmer's Chase River, 130; on 
Hocomawananck River, 121 ; on 
Meherrin River, 118, 119, 120; on 
Penna Mount River, 115; on Pen- 
nants Bay, 125 ; on Roanoke River, 
124 and footnote; on Woodford 
River, 120 

Blandford: Batts-Fallam party at, 
196 

Blandina River: description, 126; 
named by explorers, 123 

Blankets: imported from England, 

33 
Blue Ridge Mountains: J. Lederer 

on, 65, 66 
Bly, John : son-in-law of A. Wood, 

45, footnote 
Board of Trade: memorial of D. 

Coxe to, S3, 54 
Bolton, Captain — : at Mississippi, 

20 
Bolton, Thomas: see Batts, Thomas 



Ind 

Bond, Captain — : explorations on 
Mississippi, 233, footnote; 248, 
footnote 

Botts, Thomas: see Baits, Thomas 

Bracelets: trade in, 170 

Brewster, Sackford: biographical 
notice, 114, footnote; at Nottaway, 
115; at Occoneechee, 124; at 
Pyanchas Park, 123 ; at Totero, 
124. Explorations, 48, 114; on 
Blandina River, 123 ; Brewsters 
River, 121 ; Farmer's Chase River, 
130; Hocomawananck River, i2i ; 
Meherrin River, 118, 119, 120; 
Penna Mount River, 116; Pennants 
Bay, 125 ; Roanoke River, 124 and 
footnote; Woodford River, 120 

Brewsters Island: explorers at, 121 

Brewsters Point: named by explor- 
ers, 125 

Brewsters River: explorers at, I2i 

Byrd [Bird], Colonel William: atti- 
tude towards Bacon's Rebellion, 
76; career, 36, footnote; char- 
acterization, 194; explorations, 77, 
192, 246 ; knows of French explo- 
rations, 77; Indians killed by, 43; 
social status, 90; writings, 31. In- 
terest in fur-trade, 77 ; in mines, 
93 ; in West, 76, 77 

Canada: fur-trade in, 58 

Carolana [Coralina]: colonization, 
240; grant to D. Coxe, 232, foot- 
note; to R. Heath, 239; to J. 
Shaen, 241 ; revived interest in, 

239 

Carolina: description, 135; exploita- 
tion of lands, 59 

Carteret, Sir George: speculations, 

57 
Carteret, Sir Philip: interest in 

Carolina, 59, footnote 
Catawba Indians: joined by Saponi 

and Tutela, 197; trade route to, 32 
Catlett, Colonel: explorations, 69, 

163-166 



ex 



263 



Chamberlayne, Thomas: son-in-law 
of A. Wood, 45, footnote 

Chaouanon: see S/iaivnee Indians 

Charles II: court, 56 

Charles Island: named by Bland, 
124; see Occoneechee 

Charleston (S. Car.) : trade center, 
33 

Chavanones: see Shaivnee Indians 

Chawan Indians: see Shaivnee In- 
dians 

Chawan River: explorers on, 114, 
116 

Cherokee Indians: defeated by 
Shawnee, 88 ; description of vil- 
lage, 82 ; interest in white men, 
82, 83 ; Tomahitans identified 
with, 81; trade, 33, 78, 92; unite 
with English, 83; visit Fort Hen- 
ry, 89; warfare, 86, 87, 88 

Chevanoues: see Shaivnee Indians 

Chickahominy [Shickehamany] In- 
dians: J. Lederer visits, 64 

Chickahominy River: military post 
on, 29 ; J. Lederer on, 145 

Chiles, Walter: granted right to ex- 
plore, loi, 102 

Chounterounte Indians: hostility', 
128 ; Indian chief, 115 

Cinabar: used by Indians, 158 

Clarendon, Earl of: interest in Caro- 
lina, 59, footnote; speculations, 

57 
Clayboume, Colonel William: biog- 
raphical note, 102, footnote; grant- 
ed right to explore, 102; trade 
monopoly, 51 
Clayton, John: letter to Royal So- 
ciety', 194; rector of Crofton, 183, 
footnote; sends report to Royal 
Societv, 54, footnote; transcript of 
Fallam journal, 181-193 
Cloth: trade in, 169 
Cochineal: found in America, 242 
Cockarous: meaning, 116, footnote 
Codrington, Colonel Christopher: 
letter to Arlington, 210, footnote 



264 



Trans- Allegheny Region 



Colleton, Sir Peter: interest in Caro- 
lina, 59, footnote 

Colonization: fostered by Matrevors, 
240; indenture system, 35; inter- 
est, 93, 94; of Carol ana, 240; 
stock companies, 22. Interested 
individuals — 'E. Bland, 50; W. 
Byrd, 50; D. Coxe, 231, footnote 

Commanders: salary at military 
posts, 30 

Commerce: expansion in seventeenth 
centurj', 22 ; fostered by Charles 
II, 56; see Trade 

Commission: for explorer, 103, 176, 
184 

Conestoga [Sasquesahanough, Sus- 
quehannock] Indians: serve as 
guides, 67, 151; totem of, 143 

Contest in America between Great 
Britain and France, The: asserts 
England's land claims, 21, foot- 
note; Wood's discoveries, 54 

Copper: used by Indians, 127, 162 

Corkes, John: signs order of assem- 
bly, 112 

Corn (Indian) : cultivation, in, 
120, 209 ; used by Indians, 123, 
168 ; value, 209 

Cotton: exported to England, 242 

Council: of French and Indians at 
Sault Ste. Marie, 17, 18 

Council of State: investigates ex- 
plorations, 51 

Coxe, Colonel Daniel (son of Dr. 
Daniel Coxe) : Colonization 
schemes, 234, footnote; mentions 
English explorations, 21, footnotes 
70, yi; inaccuracy, 75 

Coxe, Dr. Daniel : biographical no- 
tice, 231, footnote; account of ex- 
plorations, 53, 231-249; map of 
explorations, 244; transcript of 
Fallam's journal, 183, footnote; 
reads of explorations in America, 
243, 244; governor of New Jersey, 
244; memorial to Board of Trade, 



54; to William III, 53, 202; sug- 
gests division of western land, 249 

Craven, Charles: interest in Amer- 
ica, 59, footnote; speculations, 57 

Cree Indians: hold council with 
French at Sault Ste. Marie, 17, 18 

Cumberland River: settlement, 205 

Customs: of Indians, 117, 118, 119, 
120, 121, 122, 123, 125, 127, 142, 
143, 144. 147. 149, 153, 154, 155. 
156, 157. 158, 159, 160, 162, 165, 
213 

Dan River: expedition of A. Wood, 

54, footnote ; J. Lederer on, 68 ; 

Occaneechi Indians on, 80, footnote 
Danvers, Sir John: 109, footnote 
Delatega, Garzilazia: History of 

Peru, 244 
Denonville, Jacques Rene: excites 

Indians against English, 236 
De Saint-Lusson, Damont: see Saint 

Lusson 
Doherty, Mr. — : marries Indian, 91, 

footnote 
Dudley, Colonel Joseph: governor of 

New England, 244 

England: influence over Indians, 
92; Indian allies, 83; interests in 
America, 23 ; fur-trade, 58 ; im- 
ports from, 33; land speculation 
in, 59; explorations, 91, 235; set- 
tlements on Ohio, 204. Claim — 
to Mississippi, 19, 21, 54-55, foot- 
note, 74, 78, 191, 232-233, foot- 
note, 234, 249 ; to Ohio, 90, 203 

Eno [Aeno, Oenock], (Indian town): 
J. Needham at, 214 

Eno Indians: description, 156, 
Lederer visits, 68 

Eno River: Occaneechi Indians on, 80 

Eruco River: J. Lederer on, 162 

Exaudiat: sung by French at Indian 
council, i8 

Explorations: petition for right, 28, 



Index 



103; planned by Berkeley, 175, 
176; reasons for, 61, 92, loq, 175, 
176, 238; hindered, 89; influence 
on frontier, 26; on trade, 60; re- 
vived interest in, 239 ; urged by 
Virginia governors, 45 ; extent, 
243; traces, 186, 188; rewards, 

101, I02, 104; ignored by Vir- 
ginia, 214; instructions of J. Led- 
erer, 167; food used, i6S, 212, 
247; effect of Bacon's Rebellion, 
89; carried on at Fort Henry, 34; 
commission for, 103, 176, 184; cost 
of, 85, 2IO, 217. Encouraged by — 
assembly of Virginia, 51, 55, loi, 

102, 103, 104; W. Berkeley, 46, 61, 
66, 69, 77, 177, 179 ; governors, 45 ; 
A. Wood, 184, 20I, 210; D. Coxe, 
233, footnote, 245, 247; De Sailly, 
247. Described by — T). Coxe, 231; 
E. Bland, 109; R. Fallam, 183; J. 
Lederer, 133; A. Wood, 210. 
Conducted by — G. Arthur, 79- 
89; T. Batts, 70-74, 200, 210; E. 
Bland, 48, 80, 114; Bond, 248, 
footnote; S. Brewster, 48, 114; W. 
Byrd, 77, 192, 246; Catlett, 69, 
163; De la Muce, 247; English, 
25, 78; R. Fallam, 70-74, 210; 
French, 24, 25; Frontenac, 60; 
Gregory, 246; W. Harris, 66, 67, 

103, footnote, 149, 177; Joliet, 21, 
24; La Salle, 24, 60, 202, 235; J. 
Lederer, 62, 64, 66-69, 126, foot- 
note, 152, 177; Marquette, 21, 24; 
J. Needham, 79-85, 201, 210, 246; 
Newport, 28 ; J. Nicollet, 24, foot- 
note, 25; E. Pennant, 48; Perci- 
vall, 246; E. Ponnant, 114; J. 
Smith, 28 ; Spotswood, 203 ; trad- 
ers, 56; A. Wood, 54 and foot- 
note, 70, 77, 78, 80; T. Wood, 70; 
H. Woodward, 79, footnote. Lo- 
cality — Appomattox River, 28, 
196; Blackwater Lake, 130; 
Blackwater River, 49; Brewsters 



265 

River, 121; Blandina River, 123; 
Chawan River, 114, ii6; Chicka- 
hominy River, 145; Dan River, 
55, footnote; Eruco River, 162; 
Illinois River, 25; James River, 
28, 51, 149; Lake Pimiteoui, 202; 
Little Tennessee River, 82, foot- 
note; Melierrin River, 49, 118, 
119, i2o; Mississippi River, 20, 
25, 232-234, footnote, 235, 245, 
246, 248 and footnote; New 
River, 54, footnote, 73 ; Notta- 
way River, 49, 114, 115; Ohio 
River, 53, 73, 201, 245; Otter 
Creek, 152; Pamunkey River, 64, 
145; Pede River, 197; Penna 
Mount River, 116; Rapidan River, 
64; Rappahannock River, 147, 
163 ; Roanoke River, 49, 72, 124 
footnote, 152, 187, 152; Schuylkill 
River, 245 ; Staunton River, 67, 
71, 185, 197; Tennessee River, 82, 
footnote; Wisconsin River, 24, 
footnote; Yadkin River, 68; York 
River, 145 



Fallam, Robert: education, 90; 
commission, 184; explorations, 54 
and footnote, 70-74, 196, 210, 221 ; 
itinerary, 195, 199, 200; journal, 
54, 70, 74, 76, 181-193. Ex- 
plorations —^ew River, 73, 189; 
Ohio River, 201 ; Pede River, 
197; Roanoke River, 187; Staun- 
ton River, 185, 197; Swift Creek, 
i88; Wood River, 198; Hana- 
thaskies, 185, 193; Peters' Falls, 
192; Saponi, 185; Totero, 186; 
claims land for England, 74, 
191; report, 54-55, footnote; re- 
turn to Fort Henr>-, 193 

Farmer, Robert: servant to E. 
Bland, 115, 130 

Farmers Chase River: 130 

Farming: Indian methods, 48; in 
Virginia, 209 



266 



Trans- Allegheny Region 



Farrer, Mr. — : map, 47 

Feudalism: revival in America, 30 

Fish: abundance in Virginia, no 

Fleet, Captain Henry: granted right 
to explore, 102; trade monopoly, 51 

Floods, Captain — : advised against 
trading, ii6 

Food: of explorers, 168, 190, 247; 
of Indians, 123, 124, 147, 151, 154, 
156, i57r 158, 168, 191, 213, 223 

Fort Crevecoeur: built by La Salle, 
202 

Fort Henry: location, 114; Chero- 
kee at, 89 ; establishment of, 29 ; 
exploring party from, 47, 50, 79, 
114, 210; incorporated as Peters- 
burg, 31; known as Wood, 30; 
return of Batts-Fallam party, 193 ; 
of explorers, 74, 130; of Needham, 
83, 214; trade routes from, 32; 
A. Wood commander of, 30 

France: controls trade, 194; fears 
English traders, 91 ; fur-trade, 58 ; 
hold council with Indians, 17, 18; 
interests in America, 23 ; mistreat 
English, 237; explorations, 24, 
footnote, 25 ; settlements on Mis- 
sissippi, 194, 248 ; attacks Hud- 
son's Bay, 235. Claim fo — Missis- 
sippi, 21, 234; Northwest, 18, 202, 
203, 249 ; Ohio, 96 

French and Indian War: cause, 21 

French Broad River: 82, footnote 

Frontenac, Count Louis: explora- 
tions, 60 

Frontier: description, 27, 32, 33; 
antagonism to Berkeley, 76 ; in- 
fluence on exploration, 26 ; inter- 
course with Indians, 91 ; trade 
centers, 61 

Furs: Byrd's interest in, 77; used by 
Indians, 147 

Fur-trade: 57, 58, 60, 76, 77, 88, 91, 
92, 93, 118, 121, 232, footnote, 245; 
organized by La Salle, 25 ; rival- 
ry in, 23 ; success in, 24 



Fustick River: origin of name, 242 

Gist, Christopher: explorations, 
198 

Gold: desire for, 177 

Great Kanawha River: G. Arthur 
on, 87 

Great Lakes: France takes posses- 
sion, i8; known by Byrd, 194 

Gregory [Grigory], Major: attacked 
by French, 237; explorations, 246 

Grosseilliers, M. de: career, 58; 
wanderings, 24, footnote 

Guns: imported from England, 33; 
possessed by Indians, 80; scare 
Indians, 120; trade, 83, 170, 214 

Hacluite, Mr. — : publishes trans- 
lation of Delatega, 244 

Hamond, Francis: granted right to 
explore, 104 

Hanahaskie Indians: see Monahas- 
sano 

Harris, Major William: biographi- 
cal notice, 103, footnote; peti- 
tions assembly, 103 ; granted right 
to explore, 55 ; explorations, 66, 
67, 103, footnote, 149, 177; parts 
with Lederer, 151; slanders Led- 
erer, 151 

Hartwell, Mr. — : plants colony for 
Matrevers, 240 

Harvy, Sir John: land grant to 
Matrevers, 240 

Hasecoll, John: murders Needham, 
84 

Hatcher [Hattcher], Henry: reports 
murder of Needham, 84, 215; 
status of, 90 

Hatchets: imported from England, 
33 ; trade, 223 

Hawley, Captain Henry: plants col- 
ony for Matrevers, 240 

Heath, Sir Robert: grant of Caro- 
lana to, 239 

Herbs: use of, by Indians, 165 



Ind 



ex 



267 



Hill, Colonel Edward: defeated by 
Ricahecrians, 155, foohiote; re- 
moval, 42 

Hocomowananck Indians: explorers 
visit, 119; treachery, 123 

Hocomawananck River: see Roanoke 
River 

Hoes: trade in, 170 

Holland: fur-trade, 58 

Holston River: settlement on, 205 

Hooe [Hoe], Rice: biographical 
note, loi, footnote; granted right 
to explore, loi, 102 

Hudson's Bay: fur-trade, 58 

Hudson's Bay Company: rise, 58 and 
footnote, 59; trouble with colo- 
nists, 76 

Huguenots: settlement, 231, footnote 

Illinois Indians: conquered by Iro- 
quois, 233; settle with Osage, 235 
Illinois [lllincuecks, Ilinois] River: 
navigation, 249; opened by La 
Salle, 25 
Illinouecks: see Illinois 
Imports: from England, 33 
Indenture: necessity for, 35 
Indentured servants: as traders, 90 
Indian John: murders Needham, 84 
Indians: agricultural method, 48; 
attack Spanish town, 219; canoes, 
213; coins, 170; conversion, 109, 
110; council at Sault Ste. Marie, 
17, 18; customs, 117, 118, 119, 
120, 121, 122, 123, 125, 127, 142, 
143, 144, 147, 149, 153, 15+. 155. 
156, 157. 158, 159, 160, 162, 165, 
213; defeated by Bacon, 124, foot- 
note; describe western lands, 46; 
description of village, 213; effect 
of liquor, 170; food, 123, 124, 147, 
151, 154, 156, 157. 158, 168, 191, 
213, 223; friendliness, 245; gods, 
143; government, 153, 154, 157; 
guns, 214; help A. Wood, 33; 
hostilit}^ 26, 29, 42, 49, 79, 84, no, 



115, n8, 124, footnote, 128, 129, 
152, 187, 198, 213; influence of 
English, 92; intercourse with trad- 
ers, 91; killed by Byrd, 43; mar- 
riage among, 144; marry whites, 
91 and footnote; medical remed- 
ies, 165; negotiate with A. Wood, 
43; origin, 144.; records, 142, 143; 
religion, 143, 160, 220; timidity, 
115, 120, 127, 128; totems, 143; 
trade, 33, 44, 47, 50, 61, 78, 83, 
88. 92, 93, 112, 116, 117, 118, 119, 
122, i6i, 162, 169, 170, 213, 234, 
footnote, 236, 245; treachery, 155, 
215, 2i6; treatment by Indians, 
237; by Spanish, 83, 213; Treaty 
of Albany with, 204; used as 
guides, 70, 71, 82, i68 ; utensils, 
214; village, 82; warfare, 86, 87, 
88; war implements, 219; wars 
among, 121, 122, 221. Use — czt 
fur, 147; copper, 162; herbs, 165; 
lion skins, 148; salt, 158, 198 
Indigo: found in America, 242 
Iroquois [Irocois] Indians: attacked 
by French, 237; conquests, 197, 
233t 234; possessions, 231; war 
with Shawnee, 199 

Jackzetavon: guide to Lederer, 151 
James River: description, 150; ex- 
plorations, 28, 51, 149; J. Lederer 

on, 149; militarj- posts on, 27, 29; 

J. Smith and Newport on, 28 ; A. 

Wood at, 53 and footnote 
Jesuit: present at Indian council, 17, 

18 
Johnson, Joseph: granted right to 

explore, loi, 102 
Jones, Abraham: grandson of A. 

Wood, 45, footnote 
Jones, Cadwallader: establishes 

trading post, 31; social status, 90 
Jones, Peter (Wood's son-in-law): 

45 and footnote; succeeded by J. 

Richards, 210, footnote 



>68 



Trans- Allegheny Region 



Kaskufara [Kaskous] : Indian 

chief, 162 
Katearas: Lederer at, 162 
Kawitziokan: visited by Lederer, 162 
Kentucky: discovery, 55, footnote 
Kettles: imported from England, 33 
Kickapoo [Kicapous] Indians: con- 
quered by Iroquois, 233 
Kimages (estate of Edj Bland) : iii, 

footnote 
Knives: trade, 88, 170, 221 

La Hovton [le Houton] Baron: re- 
lates murder of F. Marion, 237 

Lake Huron: France takes possession 
of, 18 

Lake Pimiteoni: La Salle at, 202 

Lake Superior: France takes posses- 
sion of, 18 

Land: colonists desire, 36; explor- 
ations, 45 ; right of explorer to, 
29; speculation, 56, 94; survey, 
204. Grant to — W. Clayborne, 
51; commanders, 30; H. Fleet, 51; 
A. Wood, 37, 52. Patents — 104., 
232, footnote ; to W. Clayborne, 
102 , 'explorers, loi, 102, 103, 104; 
to H. Fleet, 102; R. Hooe, loi, 
footnote 

Langston, Anthony: granted right to 
explore, 55; petitions assembly, 
103 

Lansdowne, Lord: favors American 
colonization, 239 

La Salle, Robert Cavelier: explora- 
tions, 24, 60, 202, 235; on the Il- 
linois, 25; organizes fur-trade, 25 

Law, John: enterprises of, 22 

Lederer, John: characterization, 136; 
accompanied by W. Harris, 103, 
footnote i2o; conjectures, 166; ex- 
aggerations, 63, 68, 69; flees to 
Maryland, 136; returns to Vir- 
ginia, 163 ; second expedition, 
177; slandered by Harris, 151; 
third expedition, 163; instructions 
to future explorers, 167; Discov- 



eries — 1^1-171; Travels, 63. Ex- 
plorations — 62, 64, 66, 69, 126, 
footnote, 177; at Katearas, 162; 
Kawitziokan, 162; Nottoway, 163; 
on Chickahominy River, 145 ; Eru- 
co River, 162; Otter Creek, 152; 
Rappahannock River, 147, 163; 
Roanoke, 152; Ushery Lake, 159. 
Visits — Eno, 156; Meherrin, 163; 
Monacans, 149; Occaneechi, 153; 
Saponi, 152; Sara, 158; Shakori, 
157; Tuscarora, 162; Wateree, 
158; Waxhaw 

Le Houton, Baron: see La Honton 

Lewis, Major William: granted 
right to explore, 55; petitions as- 
sembly, 103 

Little Tennessee River: Needham 
at, 82, footnote 

Locke, John: secretary to Earl of 
Shaftesbury, 79; correspondent of 
J. Richards, 2io, footnote; memo- 
randum, 209 

Logwood River: origin of name, 
242 

London: market for furs, 58 

London Company: colonization un- 
der, 35 

Looking-glass: trade, 170 

Louis XIV: acquires possession of 
middle west, 18 

Ludwell, Thomas: letter to Lord 
Arlington, 177; to government, 66 

Mackgregor, Major — : attacked 
by Indians, 237 

Maharineck: see Meherrin 

Mahoc, Mahock: see Manahoac In- 
dians 

Maize: see Corn 

Manacan Indians: see Monacan In- 
dians 

Manahoac [Mahoc, Mahock, Mana- 
goack, Managog] Indians: village, 
141, 149 ; war with Totopotaraoi, 
146 

Manakin: see Monacan 



Index 



269 



Manitoulin (island) : France takes 

possession, 18 
Mannith: supreme diety of Indians, 

143 

Maraskarin: mother of Indian race, 
144 

Marion, Fontain: guide to traders, 
237. 238 

Marquette, Jacques: expedition, 21, 
24 

Marriage: among Indians, 144; be- 
tween English and Indians, 91 
and footnote 

Mascoutens [Maschoutens] Indians: 
conquered by Iroquois, 233 

Massacre: of Opechancanough, 26 

Mathews, Captain Samuel: master 
of A. Wood, 34 

Matrevers, Lord: acquires right to 
Carolina, 239; death, 241 

Meherrin [Menchaerinck] Indians: 
description, 118; visited by J. Le- 
derer, 163 

Meherrin (Maharineck) River: de- 
scription, 120; explorers at, 49, 
118, 119, 120 

Melvin, Frank E: 24, footnote 

Menchaerinck Indians: see Meher- 
rin 

Meschacebe River: see Mississippi 
River 

Miami [Miamihas] Indians: con- 
quered by Iroquois, 233 

Military posts: centers of frontier 
life, 27; description, 32, 33; gar- 
risons, 32; establishment, 29; 
maintenance, 30 

Militia: service in, 41 

Mines: government rights in, 28, 
102; on Mississippi River, 248; 
search for, 93 

Mississippi [Meschacebe, Missipy, 
Missisipi] River: claims to, 17, 
18, 19, 55, footnote, 74, 234; con- 
quests of Iroquois on, 233; de- 
scribed by Indians, 47, 248; dis- 
covery, 53, 55, footnote; explora- 



tions on, 25, 232-233, footnote, 235, 
245, 246, 248 ; English traders on, 
92; opened up by La Salle, 25; 
origin of name, 199; settlement 
on, 204, 248 ; survey of lands on, 
204; A. Wood at, 53 
Mitchell, Dr. John: asserts claim of 
England to middle west, 21; men- 
tions Wood's discoveries, 54, fool- 
note; remarks on Batts-Fallam ex- 
pedition, 196 

Mohecan Indians: habitat, 191 

Moheton [Mohetan] Indians: culti- 
vation of land, 74; habitat, 193; 
name, 87, footnote; Tomahitans 
identified with, 81; villages, 87, 
footnote 

Monacan [Manacan, Manakins] 
Indians: location, 141; visited by 
Cherokees, 89; J. Lederer, 66, 
149; Smith and Newport, 28 

Monack (leader of Monakins), 149 

Monahassano [Hanahaskies, Han- 
athaskies, Nyhyssan] Indians: gov- 
ernment, 153; hostility, 152; lo- 
cation, 141, 149 ; totem, 143 ; visit- 
ed by Batts-Fallam part\-, 70, 74, 
185, 193; by J. Lederer, 152; war 
with Totopotamoi, 146 ; see Tutelo 
Indians 

Moneton [Monyton] Indians: identi- 
fied with Mohetan, 87 and foot- 
note; town, 221; visited by Chero- 
kee, 87; by Tomahittans, 222 

Money: used by Indians, 170 

Monopoly: in trade, 102, 104, 230, 
footnote 

Monyton Indians: see Moneton In- 
dians 

Mosley, Mr. -: map, 197 

Muce, Marquis de la: on Coxe's ex- 
ploration tour, 247 

Nahyssan Indians: see Monahas- 
sano and Tutelo Indians 

Nansemond River: military posts on, 
27 



270 



Trans- Allegheny Region 



Natoway: see Noitoivay 

Needham, James: biographical 
sketch, 79 and footnote; education, 
90; agent of Wood, 53; arrives in 
S. Carolina, 79, footnote; first ex- 
pedition, 210; journal, 53, 85; 
meets Tomahitans, 81, 2ir; return 
to Fort Henry, 83, 214; second ex- 
pedition, 80, 211; third expedition, 
214; with Occaneechi, 211; with 
Tomahitans, 82, 212; murder, 84, 
215, 216, 217; epitaph, 85. Ex- 
plorations ~yg-iSy 201, 210, 246; 
at Eno, 84, 214, 216; at Sar- 
rah, 216; at Sitterce, 81, 211; at 
Yattken, 217; on Carolina Blue 
Ridge, 81, 212; result, 92 

Nessoneicks: location of, 126 

New Amsterdam: seizure, 57 

New Brittaine: description, no; 
named by E. Bland, 49 

Newcombe, Henry: servant to A. 
Wood, 130 

Newport, Mr. — : explorations, 28 

New [Woods] River: Batts-Fallam 
party on, 189; description, 189; 
discovery, 73; explorers, 55, foot- 
note; trail, 91 

Nicholson, Governor — : character- 
izes D. Coxe, 231-232, footnote 

Nicollet, Jean: on Lake Michigan, 
25 ; on Wisconsin River, 24, foot- 
note 

North America: description, 138; in- 
terest of Europe in, 23 ; size, 166 

Nottaway [Natoway] Indians: used 
as guides, 49 ; visited by ex- 
plorers, 115; by J. Lederer, 163 

Nottaway River: description, 115; 
explorations on, 49, 114, 115 

Nuntaneuck [Nuntaly] Indians: lo- 
cation, 141 

Occaneechi [Acconeechy, Akcnatzy, 
Occanechi, Occhenechees, Ocche- 
nee, Occhoneches, Occoneeche, Oc- 



coneechie, Occanacheans, Okene- 
chee] Indians: hostility, 80, 81, 84, 
124, footnote, 224; location, 80 and 
footnote, 126 and footnote, 141, 
197, 225; totem, 143; trade route 
from Fort Henry, 32 ; treachery, 
68; visited by explorers, 211, by J. 
Lederer, 67, 153; by Needham and 
Arthur, 211 
Occoneechee [Charles Island] : de- 
scription, 124 
Occonosquay: carries message to ex- 
plorers, 127 
Oenock: see Eno 

Ohio [Hohio] River: claims on, 21, 
96; discovery, 24, 53, 54, foot- 
note, 73, 201, 24s ; explorers on, 
245; fur-traders on, 91; Indians 
tell of, 47 ; settlements on, 204 
Okaec: god of Indians, 143 
Okenechee: see Occaneechi 
Opechancanough: massacre of, 26 
Osage [Ozages] Indians: Illinois 

Indians settle with, 235 
Ottawa Indians: hold council with 
French at Sault Ste. Marie, 17, 18 
Otter: prevalence, 148; trade, 122 
Otter Creek: J. Lederer on, 152 
Ouabaches: see JVabash Indians 
Oustack Indians: see IVesto Indians 
Oyeocker (Nottoway Indian) : serves 
as guide, 116, 130; visited by ex- 
plorers, 115 
Ozages: see Osage Indians 

Pamunkey [Pemxorvcock] Indians: 
defeat by Ricahecrians, 42, 155, 
footnote 

Pamunkey River: Indian victory at, 
42 ; J. Lederer at, 64, 145 ; mili- 
tary' posts on, 27, 29 

Parkes, Colonel — : bears letter of 
W. Berkeley, 176 

Parkman, Francis: opinion on trans- 
Allegheny explorations, 20 

Pash: mother of Indian nations, 144 



Ind 

Patents: in land, 104, 232, footnote; 
to W. Clayborn, 102 ; to explorers, 
loi, 102, 103, 104; to H. Fleet, 
102; to R. Hooe, lor, footnote; to 
A. Wood, 37, 52 
Pawhatan: murders Chawan, 122 
Pearl River: origin of name, 2^2 
Pearls: found in America, 242, 243 
Pede River: Batts-Fallam party on, 

197 
Pemaeoncock: see Pamunkey 
Pembrook, Earl: favors American 

colonization, 239 
Penna Mount River: description, 116 
Pennant, Elias: explorations of, 48 
Pennants Bay: named by explorers, 

125 
Percivall [Persivall], Mr. — : ex- 
plorations, 246 ; governor of Caro- 
lina, 242 
Perecute (Appomattox chief) : guide 
to Batts-Fallam party, 70, 184; 
illness, 72, 73, 187; initials cut on 
trees, 191 
Petersburg: origin, 44, 45; Batts- 
Fallam party at, 196 
Peters' Falls: Batts-Fallam party at, 

192 
Pickawellanee [Pickawillany] : set- 
tlement at, 205 
Planes: imported from England, 33 
Pennant, Captain Elias: at Blandina 
River, 123 ; at Brewster's River, 
121; at Farmers Chase River, 130; 
at Hocomawananck River, 121; at 
Meherrin, 118, 119, 120; at Notta- 
way Town, 115; at Occoneechee, 
124; at Penna Mount River, 116; 
at Pennants Bay, 125 ; at Pyanchas 
Park, 123; at Roanoke River, 124, 
and footnote; at Totero, 124; at 
Woodford River, 120; explora- 
tions, 114 
Port Royal [Porte Royal, Portt 

Royal] : Arthur at, 220 
Portugal: interests in America, 23 



ex 



lyi 



Potawatomi Indians: hold council 
with French at Sault Ste. Marie, 
17, 18 

Potomac [Patowmack] River: sur- 
vey of lands, 204 

Powder: imported from England, 
33 ; trade in, 170 

Privy Council: letter from Virginia 
governor, 45 

Proclamation: of Saint-Lusson at 
Sault Ste. Marie, 18 

Pyanchas Park: named by explorers, 
123 

Pyancho: Indian guide, 114, 130 

Quucosough: god of Indians, 143 

Radissos- [Radison], Mr. — : aids 
French, 235; wanderings, 24, 
footnote 

Raleigh [Rawleigh], Sir Walter: 
quoted, 112, 113 

Randolph's River: see Snvift Creek 

Rapidan River: J. Lederer at, 64 

Rappahannock [Rappalianock] Riv- 
er: military posts on, 27; J. 
Lederer on, 69, 147, 163 

Religion: of Indians, 143, i6o, 220 

Ricaut, Sir Paul: translates Dela- 
tega, 244 

Richards, John: biographical notice, 
210, footnote, letter from A. Wood, 
44, 78, 89, 210; visits Virginia, 78 

Richmond (Va.) : growth from fron- 
tier post, 31 

Rickahockan [Ricahecrians, Rique- 
hronnons, Ri;jueronnons] Indians: 
defeat English and Pamunkeys, 
42; identification, 155, footnote; 
location, 161 ; ambassador and 
retinue murdered, 155; war with 
Totnpotamoi, 146 and footnote; 
see Cherokee Indians 

Roanoke [Rorenock] River: Batts- 
Fallam party on, 72, 187; explora- 
tions on, 49, 72, 121, 124 and 



272 



Trans- Allegheny Region 



footnote, 152, 187; J. Lederer on, 

152 
Robinson, Conway: notes by, 39 
Rupert, Prince: member of Hud- 
son's Bay Company, 59 

Sailly, Baron de: explorations, 247 

Saint-Lusson, Damont de: holds 
council with Indians, 17, 18 

Salt: found by J. Lederer, 158; used 
by Indians, no, 127, 198 

Saponi [Sapeny, Sapiny, Sapong, Sa- 
pon, Sepiny] Indians: location, 
141, 152, footnote, 153, 197; visited 
by Batts-Fallam, 71, 185; by J. 
Lederer, 67, 152 ; by A. Wood, 71 ; 
used as guides, 71, 185 

Sapony River: see Staunton River 

Sara [Sarrah] : visited by J. Need- 
ham, 216; by J. Lederer, 158 

Sasquesahanough Indians: see Cones- 
toga Indians 

Sauk Indians: hold council with 
French at Sault Ste. Marie, 17, 18 

Sault Ste. Marie: 17, 18 

Saura Indians: G. Arthur attacked 
by, 88 ; visited by J. Lederer, 68 

Schuylkill [Schuil Kill] River: ex- 
plorers on, 245 

Scissors: trade in, 170 

Seneca Indians: tell La Salle of 
Ohio, 24 

Sepoy: mother of Indian race, 144 

Servants: position in Virginia, 34; 
see Indentured servants 

Settlements: made by Hartwell, 240; 
by H. Hawley, 240; of Huguenots, 
233, footnote. Location — on Hol- 
ston River, 205 ; Hudson's Bay, 76 ; 
Ohio River, 204; Pickawillanee, 
205 ; west of mountains, 203 ; see 
Frontier 

Shackory Indians: see Shakori In- 
dians 

Shaen, Arthur: sells Carolana, 241 

Shaen, Sir James: acquires deed to 
Carolana, 241 



Shaftesbury, Earl of: dedication to, 
135; interest in America, 59 and 
footnote; speculations, 57; pos- 
sesses letter from A. Wood, 79 

Shakori [Shackory] Indians: visited 
by J. Lederer, 68, 157 

Shawnee [Chawan, Chawanoes, 
Chaouanons] Indians: barbarism, 
83 ; capture G. Arthur, 88 ; con- 
quered by Iroquois, 199, 233 ; de- 
feat Cherokee, 88 ; murdered by 
Powhatan, 122 

Sh'ckehamany: see Chickaliominy 

Silk: industry in Virginia, 17?, 179 

Silver: search for, 62, 178; trade in, 
171; used by Indians, 127, xCo 

Sitteree [Siteree] : location, 81, 211; 
visited by explorers, 211, b\ 
Needham and Arthur, 81 

Smith, Captain John: at Appa- 
matuck, 196; explorations, 28 

Somerset, Earl of: library, 243 

Soto, Ferdinand de: Coxe's interest 
in explorations, 244 

South Sea: search for passage, 46, 
47. 61, 175, 176 

Spaniards: attacked by Indians, 86, 
219; interest in America, 23; 
trade with, 83, 213, 214; treat- 
ment of Indians by, 213 

Spencer, Nicholas: letter lo Lords of 
Trade, 43 

Spotswood, Colonel Alexander: ex- 
plorations, 203 

State of the British and French Col- 
onies: asserts Wood's discovery, 54 

Staunton River: Batts-Fallam party 
on, 71, 185, 197; J. Lederer on, 
67; Occaneechi Indians on, 8n, 
footnote; origin of name, 197 

Stewart, Mr. — : marries Indian, 91, 
footnote 

Sugar cane: cultivation, no, 124 

Sumners, Lord: favors American 
colonization, 238 

Susquehannock Indians: see Cones- 
toi'a Indians 



Ind 

Swift Creek [Randolph's River] : 
Batts-Fallam party on, i88 

Tagkanysough: god of Indians, 143 

Talbot, Sir William: Discoveries of 
John Lederer, 131-171 

Talifer, Robert: visited by J. Led- 
erer, 163 

Tasquehana River: explorers on^ 
24s 

Tennessee River: Needham at, 82, 
footnote 

Tetero: see Totero 

Tobacco: cultivation, no; value, 
209 

Tomahawks: imported from Eng- 
land, 33 

Tomahitan [Tomahittan] Indians: 
defeat, 222 ; met by Arthur and 
Needham, 81; offer A. Wood aid, 
211; used as guides, 213; utensils, 
214; visit Fort Henry, 225 ; Mone- 
tons, 221 

Toskirora Indians: see Tuscarora 
Indians 

Totems: of Indians, 143 

Toteras: see Totero 

Totero [Teteras, Toteras] : descrip- 
tion, 124; location, 197; visited by 
Batts-Fallam party, 186, 192; by 
Cherokee, 89; by explorers, 71, 72; 
see Tutelo Indians 

Totopotamoi [Tottopottama], (In- 
dian chief) : death, 146 and foot- 
note 

Trade: among Indians, 122, 161, 
162; attempts to further, 47, 50; 
effect of Bacon's rebellion, 76; ex- 
plorations, 103 ; expansion in 
seventeenth century, 22 ; expense, 
232, footnote; harassed by Indians, 
124, footnote; importance, 44; in- 
fluence on exploration, 60; interest 
of A. Wood in, 44; jealousy in, 
225; monopoly in, 29, 51, 60, 102, 
104; of Virginia in West, 91; 
pack horses used in, 33 ; profits. 



ex 



273 



93; routes, 32, 80; shell money 
used in, 31; stock companies for, 
22. Carried on — with Indians, 33, 
44. 47. 50, 61, 78, 83, 88, 92. 9?. 
112, 116, H7, 118, 119, 169, 170, 
184, 213, 236, 245; with Span- 
iards, 83, 213, 214. Articles 
enumerated— axes, 169; beads, 
170; beaver, 88, 194, 213, 222; 
cloth, 169; furs, 23, 24, 57, 58, 
60, 76, 77, 88, 91, 92, 93, 118, 
121-232, footnote, 245 ; puns, 
83, 170, 214; hatchets, 223; 
hoes, 170; imported articles, 
33; knives, 88, 170, 221; looking 
glass, 170; otter, 122; pictures. 
170; powder, 170; shot, 170 

Trader: incur Indian jealousy, 79, 
80; indentured servants as, 90; 
at Fort Henry, 33; classes in, 90; 
explorations of, 56; on Mississippi, 
92 ; on Ohio, 91 

Trent>- of Albany: with Indians, 
204 

Tuscarora [Tuskarood, Toskirora] 
Indians: expedition to, 4S ; trade 
with, 116, 117; used as express, 
119; visited by J. Ledercr, 162 

Tuskarood: see Tuscarora 

Tutelo Indians: hostilitii-, 124; loca- 
tion, 1Q7; used as guides, 72; 
visited by Batts-Fallam, iS^; see 
Totero 

Twightwee Indians: settlement 
among, 205 

Undertaker: maintain n>ilitary 

posts, 30 
Ushery Lake: description, 1I0; J. 

Lederer at, 159 

Vexim.a Regis: sung by French at 
Indian council, 17 

Virginia: act of assembly, 30, loi, 
102; codification of laws, 38; dis- 
courages explorations, 89; farm- 
ing in, 209; frontiersmen, 90; 



274 



Trans- Allegheny Region 



grants order for colonization, 50 ; 
ignores efforts of Wood, 214; in- 
denture in, 34; Indians in, 42, 
142; interest in fur-trade, 76; J 
Lederer fliees from, 136; militia, 
41 and footnote; provides garri- 
sons for military posts, 32 ; ser- 
vices of A. Wood in, 38, 30; set- 
tlers in West, 203 ; silk-industry, 
178; trade in West, 91; western 
explorations, 19. Assembly — com- 
missions explorers, 51, 55, loi, 102, 
103, 104 ; grants trade monopoly, 
51; maintains posts, 30, 32; peti- 
tion to, 28 ; order of, 102, 103, 104, 
112 

Wabash [Ouabache] Indians: at- 
tacked by French, 237 

Wainoake Indians: hostility, 119, 
128 

Waller, Sir William: interest in 
America, 242 

Warfare: bet\veen Indians, 87, 88 

Wateree [Watary] Indians: visited 
by J. Lederer, 68, 157 

Watts, Captain — : knighting of, 
243 

Waxhaw [Wisackj'] Indians: visited 
by J. Lederer, 159 

Weason, Jack: at Hanathaskies, 185; 
at Roanoke River, 187; at Staun- 
ton River, 185; at Totero, 186; at 
Saponi, 185 ; at Swift Creek, 188 ; 
member of Batts-Fallam part}-, 
184 

Weesock: captives of Tomahittans, 
218 

West: description, no; English 
claims, 191; explorations, loi, 102, 
103, 104, 112, 179; fur-trade of, 
60; interest of W. Byrd, 76, 77; 
Lederer's conjectures on, i66 

Westo [Oustack] Indians: warlike 
character of, 160 

Wheat: cultivation, 209 



William III: encourages schemes of 
D. Coxe, 239 

Windsor, Justin: opinion on trans- 
Allegheny explorations, 20 

Winnebago Indians: hold council 
with French at Sault Ste. Marie, 
17, iS 

Wisacky Indians: see Waxhaw In- 
dians 

Wood (settlement) : see Fort Henry 

Wood, Colonel Abraham: biographi- 
cal sketch, 34-45; acquires land, 
37; agent of W. Berkeley, 61; at 
Blandina River, 123 ; at Brews- 
ter's River, 121; at Hocomawan- 
anck River, 121; at Farmer's 
Chase River, 130; at Meherrin, 
118, 119, 120; Occaneechi, 124, 
at Mississippi River, 53 ; at Not- 
taway Town, 115; at Ohio River, 
19, 20, 53; at Pennant's Bay, 125; 
at Pyanchas Park, 123 ; at Roan- 
oke River, 124 and footnote; at 
Totero, 124; at Woodford River, 
120; commander at Fort Henrj', 
30; descendants of, 44; discoveries 
of, 54 and footnote; education, 90; 
encourages explorations, 83, 85, 
201, 210, 21^ ; explorations, 48, 53, 
54 and footnote, 70, 77, 78, ?>o, \i\, 
202 ; granted right to explore, 102 ; 
trade monopoly, 52 ; grants com- 
mission for exploration, i8^.; W. 
Harris subordinate of, 103, foot 
note; hostility to, 89; informed of 
Needham's murder, 215; ignored 
by Virginia assembly, 214; initials 
cut on tree, 191; letter to J. 
Richards, 44, 78, 89, 210; lovalty 
to government, 76 ; member of as- 
sembly, 38; of council, 39; name 
given to Fort Henry, 31; nego- 
tiates with Indians, 43 ; ordered to 
open trade with Indians, 21; resi- 
dence, 209 ; sends out explorers, 
19, 185; serves as justice, 40; in 



Ind 



ex 



275 



militia, 41, 42; social status, 90; 
trade with Indians, 33 ; writes 
Needham's epitaph, 85. Interest 
ira — explorations, 184; in Indian 
trade, 44.; West, 76, 80 

Wood, Mar}': daughter of A. Wood, 
44, 45, footnote 

Wood River: Batts-Fallam party on, 
198 ; origin of name, 54, footnote, 
201 ; survey of lands on, 204 ; see 
Ne^ Rii'er 

Wood, Thomas: son of A. Wood, 40, 



footnote; conunission, 184; explor- 
ations, 70, 185; illness of, 71, 185; 
death of, 74, 193 
Woodford River: description, 120 
Woodward, Henr>': explorations, 79, 
footnote, 246 

Yadkin River: J. Lederer on, 68 
Yattken (town) : Needham at, 217 
York, Duke of: speculations, 57 
York River: J. Lederer on, 145 



i ■<■" 






14^** 



